Guenther Steiner makes Oscar Piastri team orders prediction that Lando Norris will absolutely love

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There’s an incredibly awkward scenario that could play out at the end of the 2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix that McLaren will be absolutely dreading.

Imagine Max Verstappen leading the final lap of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, closely followed by Oscar Piastri, and then a Mercedes driver or maybe a Ferrari occupying third place, with Lando Norris in fourth.

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella and CEO Zak Brown would suddenly face the ultimate moral quandary after 12 months of going out of their way to be as fair as possible to both drivers.

Who is going to win the 2025 Formula 1 drivers’ championship?

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In that situation, Verstappen would win a fifth consecutive drivers’ championship with the greatest comeback in Formula 1 history, and a dejected McLaren team would see their drivers split by just 10 points, but both falling short of their ultimate goal.

Piastri has been warned he can’t defy team orders, and there have even been suggestions that Piastri might prefer Verstappen to win the championship over Norris.

Former team principal Guenther Steiner has given his verdict on the situation and warned Piastri that he might have to make one final sacrifice for the good of his F1 career.

READ MORE: McLaren driver Oscar Piastri’s life outside F1 from height to girlfriend

Guenther Steiner thinks Oscar Piastri must give up his position to help Lando Norris win the title

Steiner was asked on The Red Flags Podcast whether McLaren will try and swap their drivers if it looks like Verstappen is going to deny Norris the title. He said: “If push comes to shove. Yeah, I think they will do it.

“I think they will make them swap places.”

He was then asked if Piastri would adhere to McLaren’s request and continued: “I think he will because he cannot win it anyway.

“And then he gets himself a lot of goodwill. If he doesn’t do it, you can imagine the whole team is against him afterwards.

“You cannot do that; that wouldn’t go down well.”

The former Haas team principal was then asked if he thought Piastri would give up two positions to win Norris the title, and said: “Same thing. They will make him fall back. It’s a championship, guys.

“It’s a Formula 1 world championship, the value of that. It’s not only image value, money value, it’s also a lot, because for sure, sponsors, if you win a world championship, they pay you more money.

“You need to do it. All the team will be on a bonus for it, I mean, never forget that.

“All team members, if they win the championship, I guess they’re on a bonus if they win that championship as well.

“So I mean, he cannot not do it. Then again, I’ve been proven wrong by McLaren with these papaya rules quite a few times.

“So maybe I get it wrong again, and I think Oscar will do it because he says I cannot win it anyway.

“So why should I stop my teammate from winning it? It’s a logical thing for me, I think.”

READ MORE: McLaren driver Lando Norris’ life outside F1 from parents to celebration

Lando Norris says he doesn’t think he would ask Oscar Piastri to swap places in Abu Dhabi

Norris was asked about this scenario in his pre-race official press conference and said: “No, not been discussed. And honestly, I mean, I would love it. But I don’t think I would ask it.

“It’s up to Oscar if he would allow it. I don’t think it’s necessarily down to me.

“It’s the same for the other way around – would I be willing to or not? Personally, I think I would [be accepting of team orders], just because I feel like I’m always like that, and that’s just how I am. But it’s not really up to me, and I’m not going to ask it.

“I don’t want to ask [for] it because I don’t think it’s necessarily a fair question. At the same time, if that’s how it ends and Max wins, then, well, that’s it – congrats to him and I look forward to next year.

“It doesn’t change anything. It doesn’t change my life. So he will deserve it over us.”

Any Formula 1 driver knowing how close they are to achieving their ultimate goal would make the request when push came to shove.

Norris won’t want to go into the long summer break wondering whether he should have tested McLaren’s resolve about sticking to their principles on team orders.

Stella ruled out giving Piastri pre-race instructions, but these are easy soundbites to deliver when the most difficult scenario of the season isn’t currently playing out on track.