Giedo van der Garde shares what Lando Norris privately told him about McLaren team orders

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Lando Norris signed off for the summer break on a disappointing note in Belgium last weekend. He somehow lost ground to Max Verstappen even after his rival’s penalty.

Norris was promoted to fourth on the grid as Verstappen, who had exceeded the maximum ICE allocation for the season, dropped from pole to P11. That put him in a position to contend on Sunday given the formidable race pace McLaren had shown in practice.

But just as in Spain and Hungary, a poor start was costly. Norris ran into the gravel on the exit of La Source, and while it wasn’t the lead he was surrendering this time, it still compromised his race.

In the end, he crossed the line sixth, which became fifth when George Russell was disqualified. That was his poorest result in a race that he’d finished since Japan.

Norris applied pressure to Verstappen in his final stint but it proved tricky to overtake at Spa. This was a key opportunity for the Briton, but with the gap in the championship now up to 78 points heading into the shutdown, it looks extremely unlikely that he’ll be able to mount a serious challenge.

Sky Sports F1 pundit Martin Brundle says Norris looked unhappy all weekend. He suspects that the events of the previous race in Budapest were still playing on his mind.

Lando Norris told Giedo van der Garde he shouldn’t have let Oscar Piastri past

Oscar Piastri overtook his McLaren teammate at the start of the Hungarian GP and seemed to be in control of the race. However, the team brought Norris in for his second stop first in order to cover off the drivers behind.

This enabled Norris to undercut Piastri, which the team didn’t see as fair. They ordered him to move aside, but he created panic on the pit wall by expressing reluctance.

He eventually slowed down to let the Australian through in the closing laps. McLaren praised him for playing the team game, but critics have pointed out that ruthless champions of years past may not have been so generous.

Speaking on De Race Show, former F1 driver Giedo van der Garde shared details of a conversation with Norris in France afterwards. He claims that the 24-year-old expressed regret.

“I did talk about it, and I gave my opinion,” Van der Garde said. “I’ve said that he should never have let Piastri win that race. He said ‘yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, I agree.’”

Martin Brundle points to ‘legal clause’ in Lando Norris McLaren contract

Technically, this shouldn’t be a choice. Brundle points out that Norris is contractually obliged to obey the team, much like any other F1 driver.

But in reality, meaningful punishments for such transgressions are rare. Sebastian Vettel and Verstappen himself have discovered as much in the past.

McLaren implicitly warned Norris that Piastri wouldn’t return the favour in the future if he didn’t listen to them. But it’s unclear whether they would have followed through on such a threat.

During the summer break, Andrea Stella will decide whether to prioritise Norris. With Verstappen comfortably clear but the constructors’ well up for grabs, the team principal may opt to preserve parity instead.