What Oscar Piastri told Andrea Stella when asked if he would ‘give up’ a victory for Lando Norris

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McLaren looks set to prioritise Lando Norris over Oscar Piastri as they bid to win both the 2024 Formula 1 World Championships.

Lando Norris heads into the Azerbaijan Grand Prix just 62 points behind Max Verstappen, who has not won a race since the Spanish GP in June.

Red Bull admitted they were the fourth-fastest car at Monza and are now scrambling to figure out how to fix their current problems, all without the help of Adrian Newey who is currently seeing out his gardening leave before joining Aston Martin in March next year.

McLaren drew criticism for using ‘papaya rules’ at the Italian GP, which enabled Piastri to finish ahead of Norris after he overtook him on the opening lap. To avoid the scenario again, team principal Andrea Stella has told Oscar Piastri that he must now back his teammate.

When discussing whether he would give up a victory to help Norris in the title battle, Stella told BBC Sport what Piastri said before the weekend at Baku.

Oscar Piastri willing to ‘give up’ wins to help Lando Norris

Piastri is currently fourth in the Drivers’ Championship and over 100 points behind Verstappen, meaning McLaren must prioritise Norris if they want to put pressure on the Dutchman in the final eight races.

Will Buxton said the team did something during the Italian GP that Mercedes would never do when they lost out on a potential one-two victory to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

Stella has stressed that McLaren wants to only back Norris within the team’s principals of sportsmanship and fairness, but want to avoid scenarios that impact the overall result for the team.

When he spoke to Piastri about the prospect of giving up a victory, Stella said he was impressed by the response from the Australian.

“Even when I said to Oscar: ‘Would you be available to give up a victory?’ He said: ‘It’s painful, but if it’s the right thing to do now, I will do it’,” said Stella.

“Every driver is hard-wired to go for a victory. So I am always very impressed by the level of team spirit and maturity and collaboration that we found in this period.”

McLaren’s full focus is on winning Constructors’ Championship

Even though Norris has taken a sizeable chunk out of Verstappen’s title lead, McLaren sits just eight points behind Red Bull and could take the lead with a strong finish at Baku.

Senior members within the Red Bull team have already conceded that McLaren might be unstoppable due to the consistency of both Norris and Piastri, as they fight for their first Constructors’ trophy since 1998.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about McLaren F1 Team from team principal to engine

Sergio Perez’s poor results during the European leg of the season have cost Red Bull dearly, and now their car problems have put them on an even greater back foot.

It is expected to be an exciting final few races to the 2024 season and McLaren giving their backing to Norris will be fascinating to watch, as they try to dethrone Verstappen after two years of dominance.