Two laps to go in Abu Dhabi: Max Verstappen is winning, Oscar Piastri is second, George Russell is third with Lando Norris fourth. Does Oscar get ordered to let both cars past? – Chris
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella reiterated after Qatar – as he has done umpteen times this season – McLaren’s policy of fairness to both drivers, and their determination to give both the chance to pursue their goals.
“When it comes to the fact that we have two drivers in the quest for the World Championship, our philosophy and our approach will not change,” Stella said.
“Oscar, from a points point of view, is definitely in condition to win the title. We have seen before in the history of Formula 1 that when you have this kind of situation, sometimes it’s the third one (in the championship going into the final race) that actually wins.
“We have seen it, I think, in 2007, in 2010. And Oscar is fast, he deserves to be able to just realise his performance.
“We will let the drivers be in condition to race each other, but above all, what’s important for us is that we are in condition to beat Verstappen with one of our two drivers.”
McLaren want to be fair to both drivers, but they also want to ensure one of their drivers wins the title.
That means some interesting conundrums may arise during the race.
In the scenario mentioned, with Piastri and Mercedes’ Russell in whichever order, Verstappen would win the title, tied on points with Norris but with one more win.
But if Piastri moved over and let Norris into third, then Norris would be champion.
At the same time, it’s worth bearing in mind that Piastri winning the race could help Norris win the title, because in that scenario, Norris would need to finish only fifth, even if Verstappen was second.
McLaren’s entire culture is based on transparency and truthfulness. It’s also based on talking and making sure all possible scenarios are considered ahead of time.
But what would be the outcome of those discussions? Would McLaren ask Piastri to do that? Surely yes.
Would Piastri volunteer himself to do it, given how strongly both McLaren drivers have expressed their commitment to the team and their culture this season?
Obviously, I don’t and can’t know the answer.
If he did not, it would risk exploding everything the drivers and team bosses have said and worked for all year.
But in the stress of a title decider, judgement can go awry, for anyone, in or out of the car.
Let’s not forget that in one of the situations Stella cites – 2007 – something very similar happened.
In the final race in Brazil, Ferrari’s Felipe Massa was leading the race going into the final pit stops, with his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen in second.
Had they finished in that order, and the rest of the places stayed the same, Lewis Hamilton would have taken the title for McLaren, tied on points with team-mate Fernando Alonso, but winning on results countback.
So Ferrari manipulated their pit stops so Raikkonen took the win, and the title.
