BAKU, Sept 12 (Askume) – Lando Norris said he did not think his teammate Oscar Piastri would give him victory, despite McLaren’s decision to put the Briton first in the Formula One title battle with Max Verstappen.
Ahead of Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, team principal Andrea Stella told the BBC that McLaren wanted to support Norris “but without compromising too much on principle”.
Norris told reporters in Baku that there was a greater chance of a reset at the lower ranked positions rather than at No. 1 and No. 2.
“He’s still working on his game. He’s still going out and doing his job. He might not even need my help this year,” the Englishman said. “I benefited a lot from Oscar’s help when I needed it.
“If he fights to win and he deserves to win, then he deserves to win.
“If he’s better than me in a race, performs better than me, outperforms me, wins the race, it means he’s doing better.”
With eight rounds and three sprint races remaining, Norris is second, 62 points behind three-time world champion Verstappen in the Red Bull, while Piastri is fourth, 106 points behind the leader.
The driver standings have a maximum of 232 points.
McLaren is in the running for both titles and could top the constructors’ championship in Baku, just eight points behind once-dominant Red Bull.
Norris said it would be a shame to lose by a few points, but he did not want the title either.
“I don’t want to win the championship like that. I want to win by fighting Max, beating Max, beating my opponents and proving that I’m the best on the track,” he said. “That’s the way I want to win.”
overall status
Separately, Piastri said that while the team order was “not that interesting”, he felt there was a bigger picture.
“Of course, selfishly I wouldn’t take it but I’m well aware it’s not just about me and I’m happy to play a supporting role this season,” the Australian said.
“I think it might have been too much to do at the start of the season, but now is the right time to try and help the team win two titles.
“I think the biggest thing is that it’s not just me parking in front of Lando every game, because none of us, including Lando, want to play that way.”
Stella said the team’s principle is that the team’s interests always come first.
“For us sportsmanship is the most important thing because of the way we race. We want to be fair to both drivers,” the Italian told the BBC.
He said McLaren wanted to avoid repeating the mistake at Monza, when Norris finished first and Piastri second before being beaten by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
In that race, Piastri overtook Norris at the second chicane, while Leclerc took second from the Briton, who had to slow strategically to win. Verstappen finished sixth.
