McLaren boss Andrea Stella has revealed the team could implement a hierarchical structure between its drivers depending on the championship picture in Formula 1.
The Woking-based squad capitalised on its MCL38 being a class apart at the Hungaroring to translate a front row lockout into a first 1-2 result since September 2021.
However, the team orders saga that developed with Lando Norris over the radio in the closing stages overshadowed Oscar Piastri achieving his maiden career F1 win.
Piastri beat Norris at the start and was managing the race with seconds in hand over his team-mate when McLaren elected to pit the Briton earlier at the second stop.
Norris utilised a two-lap undercut to clear Piastri once he emerged on Lap 48 and then ignored several requests from his race engineer Will Joseph to swap the place.
But Norris, who disclosed that his original intention was to hand first place back to the sister car right at the death, ceded the spot to Piastri with three laps remaining.
Nevertheless, Norris has admitted that the title situation entered his mind as he gave up a chance to cut another seven points into Max Verstappen’s 76-point advantage.
Stella has insisted that McLaren’s current driver pairing receive the same chances, but he conceded that could change should Norirs continue to close on Verstappen.
“I think when you have Oscar and Lando, we are in the lucky enough position that we don’t really need to decide who is a number one driver,” Stella explained.
“Which is a way of simplifying things for some people, like myself, and it’s a way to frustrate the entire team, the ambition and the way we go racing, which is deep in our ethos.
“We race fair and if one of the two drivers gains on merit a result, this is protected.
“Maybe if it’s the last couple of races and there’s a strong championship interest for one of the two drivers, we may revise this.”
Stella thinks McLaren’s choice to give the two equal opportunities should open an environment where one is prepared to support the other when the situation arises.
“What I’m expecting is the other driver coming to me and saying, ‘if you need my help with the other driver because he is in the championship competition, I’m available.’
“And I think you build this ethos if you manage days like today in a fair way like I think we have done.
“This may give a lot of material for rumours and kind of media. That’s fair enough. That’s racing.
“To be honest, I enjoyed this week as a spectator, as a fan, when these things were happening even when I was not in Formula 1. That’s fair enough.
“But please acknowledge that we just did what was fair today. And this is what I want the entire team of McLaren to realise. And hopefully our fans as well.”
Norris is convinced that the open cooperation between the drivers since he started at McLaren has been an aspect which has helped propel the team back to the top.
However, the one-time F1 race winner has expressed that receiving Piastri’s assistance is something that he could bring up in the circumstance the title race narrows.
“It’s something we always talk about before every race, is our trust in one another, our honesty we have as a group,” he highlighted.
“I think that’s something that’s allowed us to catch others so quickly, to perform and out-perform others so quickly, to develop the car quicker.
“As a team, I think we have and have shown plenty of times between drivers.
“Whether it’s been Carlos [Sainz] and myself, Daniel [Ricciardo] and myself, Oscar and myself, that when things do go one another’s way we are there to help one another.
“Today is a different day, it’s not because strategically something’s really happened and you’re kind of letting someone past or something is going that way.
“I shouldn’t have been in that position in the first place. I shouldn’t have been given that hope of ‘I’m here, and I’m leading a race’. I don’t think it was a fair thing.
“But of course we are going to discuss it and there’s going to be times maybe in the future where things are like that.
“If Oscar has led the whole race I don’t want him to… it’s not fair and I don’t think it should work that he should just let me past to win because I’m fighting for a championship.
“Maybe I’ll ask – maybe you will! Maybe he’d let me past. But today was his. That should be it. It wasn’t my race today. He drove better, got the good start and that was that.
“Like I said, something we’ll speak about as a team and something we speak about all the time, something we’re good at and something we’ll continue to do good at.”
