Ex-Formula 1 Strategist Bernie Collins believes Oscar Piastri has the chance over the next three rounds to avoid being exposed to McLaren team orders again in 2025.
Piastri’s bold move on Lando Norris on the opening lap at Monza cost the team a potential 1-2 and served as the moment when McLaren opted to prioritise the Briton.
However, the Woking-based squad wouldn’t be in a position to action that stance until Brazil when polesitter Piastri complied with a call to give up his Sprint race lead.
Piastri again adhered to an instruction to surrender a spot in the main race to his team-mate, who endured a blow as he dropped from pole position to sixth in the wet.
Max Verstappen prevailing from 17th place on the grid has handed him a 62-point lead and all but ensured that he will secure the title with at least one round to spare.
Collins has claimed Piastri could capitalise on Norris’ diminishing championship hopes in the closing rounds to put down a marker to McLaren going into next season.
“The interesting question is, the next three races,” Collins, who used to call race strategies at Aston Martin, told the Sky F1 podcast, “if we’re saying the Drivers’ Championship is done – it’s not mathematically but I understand it’s most certainly there – Piastri now has a chance to say, ‘I don’t want to be number two driver at race one next year’.
“So there’ll be no more of this give up your position in the Sprint race, give up your position in the main race.
“So I’m quite excited to see how that progresses in the next three.”
Piastri praised for receptiveness to team orders
Piastri’s race engineer, Tom Stallard, has commended how receptive the Australian has been to McLaren’s choice to implement team orders in a bid to take both titles.
Asked how he thinks Piastri would handle team orders in a championship battle, Stallard told the Beyond the Grid podcast: “I think there’s two aspects to that.
“The first is that this team is really tight, and this team wants the best for the team.
“The other thing I would say is that if you’re a driver who thinks you’re going to win Drivers’ Championships, you want to be in a team that will support you to do that.
“So, if you are not prepared to help the team achieve that when it’s the other guy, how do you expect the team to treat you when it’s you the next time?
“So, not that there has to be a tit for tat within that, but simply that there have been plenty of examples of Formula 1 teams where the two drivers just rip strips off each other for the whole season, and then at the end of it, Kimi Raikkonen wins [in 2007].
“I think that, from that point of view, Oscar has been very, very positive in his support for the team and willingness to support the team in what needs to happen.
“He’s looking at the long game, and genuinely he wants his team to win.”
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