McLaren believes that it can avoid tensions emerging between the team’s drivers, despite likening Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to “two lions in a cage” in Formula 1.
The Woking-based squad’s growing competitiveness as the previous campaign progressed prompted the contest between the two to take on heightened importance.
McLaren copped criticism when it showed a reluctance to impose team orders to aid Norris, which cost him at Monza when Piastri muscled past on the opening lap.
But while that proved to be a turning point as McLaren then altered its stance on prioritising Norris’ bid, the switch came too late in his title duel with Max Verstappen.
With the side managing to scoop the Constructors’ Championship, though, McLaren is poised to encounter a similar situation between Norris and Piastri this season.
McLaren is well-versed in encountering deteriorating relationships between team-mates with Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna and Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.
However, McLaren CEO Zak Brown is confident the environment that it has cultivated will help prevent cracks from appearing in the team’s current driver combination.
Asked whether he was concerned things could sour, Brown told AMuS: “I’m not worried, but I’m aware that something like that could happen if you’re not careful.
“There are plenty of examples from the past. Piquet against Mansell, Hamilton against Rosberg.
“Much depends on the personalities of the drivers. We are lucky that we have two lions in the cage, but they get along well.
“The transparency we maintain at McLaren builds trust. And when a storm threatens, we try to contain it before it gains momentum.
“That’s why we always involve our drivers together in our marketing activities, play golf together, and go out for dinner together in the evenings.
“That helps us to manage difficult situations, like the pit management in Hungary. I’m quite sure that we can manage this in the future as well.”
Piastri claims McLaren team orders overblown
Piastri, who adhered to a call to relinquish a win in the Brazil Sprint race to Norris, has contended that the discussion around McLaren’s team orders was exaggerated.
Pressed on if he saw it as a good thing that guidelines had been established when he wasn’t in title contention, Piastri told Autosport: “I mean, it’s a bit of a catch-22.
“I think if I was better situated, then there wouldn’t be team orders.
“I think it’s been made a much bigger deal than it has been. There’s not really been any situation so far where we’ve actually needed to use them, so to speak.
“So yes, some things have changed a little bit, and there’s a few more rules or some tweaks to some of the ways we go racing, but again, they’re very, very specific scenarios, I would say.
“So yeah, it’s been I think a much bigger story for everyone outside the team.
“For us involved, we know to do the right thing when we need to.
“And yeah, I think next year of course I want to be in a position where I can fight and hopefully, it’s just me and Lando that can fight for the championship, that’s our ideal scenario.
“But even without these sort of more prescribed team orders, we’ve always worked in terms of doing the right thing for each other, and I don’t think that will ever change.”
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