McLaren has unveiled a new approach before the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, as it has canceled an active approach of allowing both drivers to fight for the win. The team agreed on the fact that sometime during the season Lando Norris will be privileged over Oscar Piastri, as they aim at gaining more championships. McLaren’s new policy did not pass without criticism, especially from former Formula 1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve who questioned the rationale behind the decision made by the team.
Villeneuve’s Criticism of the Timing
Another discontented voice came from the lips of former world champion Jacques Villeneuve who blamed McLaren first for starting the revolution way too late in the season for the change to work in their favor. Villeneuve cited Oscar Piastri’s slower start earlier in the season as something that is costing him now when he said that
It’s fair. Had it been Piastri ahead in the championship, it would’ve been the other way around, 1997 F1 champion Villeneuve told Sky Sports. Too bad for him, he didn’t manage to beat Lando earlier in the season. Now, it goes Lando’s way.
Karun Chandhok Weighs In
the ex-F1 driver and analyst Karun Chandhok also talked about team order and concurred with the same belief that team orders are essential. He stated that he believed that putting all their eggs into one basket, or in this case, Lando Norris, is McLaren’s best strategy. Current McLaren driver Lando Norris, who is 62 points behind Max Verstappen, also made it apparent that he doesn’t want to win titles via orders. He said that
That’s not how I want to win a championship. I want to win it by fighting against Max, by beating Max, beating my competitors.
For his part, Oscar Piastri that the new directives of team orders will not affect his performance on the circuit negatively. But even here he highlighted that it wouldn’t be him simply being the one to pull over for Lando every single race. Villeneuve also talked about the clashes between Norris and Piastri during the recent Monza Grand Prix where the latter finished P2 beating his teammate. This had raised some conflict within Piastri because he had passed Norris on the 1st lap.
Final Thoughts
One of the controversies of Formula One which has hurt McLaren is the decision by the team to enforce team orders and deny Oscar Piastri the seat for Lando Norris. Whereas there are voices such as Karun Chandhok, who insists that it is the best chance for teams to drag a title home, there are also voices such as Jacques Villeneuve, who claims that the change comes too late in a season.
The interpersonal relationship that Norris and Piastri have especially after events like that witnessed in Monza makes other F1 teams understand the challenges that come with handling driver relations and conflicts while trying to maintain a cohesive team whose sole interest is the achievement of a single goal, that is, winning races. It will be interesting to further observe throughout the season how effective these strategies are when employed and whether McLaren’s change of strategy to the latter is a success or not.
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