Valtteri Bottas has ‘no doubt’ what Oscar Piastri now has to do when racing McLaren teammate Lando Norris

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If there’s anyone currently on the Formula 1 grid who knows about supporting a teammate during a title challenge, it’s Valtteri Bottas.

During his time at Mercedes, Valtteri Bottas helped Lewis Hamilton secure four world championships and contributed to the Anglo-German manufacturer finishing top of the Constructors’ Championship on five occasions.

Bottas had plenty of success in that time too and has secured 10 Grand Prix victories and 67 podium finishes during his time in Formula 1.

However, he’s now stuck at the back of the grid with Sauber, hoping he can do enough to convince Mattia Binotto to offer him a contract for next season and beyond.

McLaren are now the team with a teammate quandary to solve.

Lando Norris is 62 points behind Max Verstappen in a faltering Red Bull car with eight race weekends left, starting with the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

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

His teammate Oscar Piastri is mathematically still in contention to fight for the title but would need to mount the most incredible comeback to win the championship.

Speaking on the Sky Sports F1 Podcast, Bottas has now told Piastri what he has to do during the final third of the season.

Andrea Stella has shared Piastri’s thoughts on stepping aside for Norris between now and the end of the season.

It’s the last thing any driver thinks about when they take to the grid but F1 is ultimately a team sport raced by highly competitive individuals.

At this stage in his career, Piastri may have to sacrifice his personal ambitions for the good of the team.

Valtteri Bottas shares his advice for Oscar Piastri in McLaren teammate battle

Asked if he had any sympathy for Piastri, Bottas said: “It’s not easy to accept.

“But, like I said, he’s only in the beginning of his Formula 1 career.

READ MORE: Sauber driver Valtteri Bottas’ life outside F1 from girlfriend to wine and gin

“I think he’s already had an amazing season looking at his experience versus Lando. So, I think he’s doing well and he’s got great years ahead of him.

“So, if I was him, I wouldn’t be too worried about it in case, he will need to support Lando.

“That’s just the name of the game sometimes. But he will have his time to shine, no doubt.”

Changes to McLaren’s ‘papaya rules’ are coming in Baku

The debate about Piastri’s role in McLaren’s fight to win both championships came to the fore at Monza when he pulled off an audacious move on Norris on the opening lap of the race.

Unfortunately, it meant Norris lost a place to Charles Leclerc and while strategy rather than track position was the reason McLaren didn’t win the race, it did highlight an inconsistency in how both drivers understood the instructions given to them.

After leading through the first chicane, Norris didn’t expect Piastri to continue attacking him.

However, McLaren are adjusting their papaya rules from Baku onwards to benefit Norris.

He needs to maximize every point he can between now and the season finale in Abu Dhabi to have any chance of winning the championship.

Now that he has the support of Piastri, he has one less driver to think about.