Lando Norris told to ‘step up’ as clear stance on McLaren team orders analysed

Although Lando Norris can call on Oscar Piastri to help him win the World title, Nigel Mansell has urged the Briton to “step up” and win it on his own merit.

Norris has found himself with a somewhat unexpected opportunity to win this year’s Drivers’ Championship title having closed the gap on Max Verstappen to 52 points.

Lando Norris urged to ‘step up’ and win the title himself

Taking 26 points out of the Dutchman’s lead since F1 returned from the summer break, the title is a long shot as even if Norris wins every one of the last six races, claims the fastest lap point, and wins the three Sprints, if Verstappen is P2 in all those races, Norris will lose the title by a single point.

It has McLaren admitting he’s going to need his team-mate’s help.

Speaking to BBC Sport , McLaren team boss Andrea Stella said: “We [will] bias our support to Lando but we want to do it without too much compromise on our principles.

“Our principles are that the team interest always comes first. Sportsmanship for us is important in the overall way we go racing. And then we want to be fair to both drivers.”

Having his team-mate’s support is a boon for Norris that Verstappen cannot reply on given his team-mate Sergio Perez’s ongoing struggles to even make inroads into the top six, never mind the podium fight.

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But while Mansell supports team orders, he has urged Norris to put himself in a position where Piastri’s help is not required.

“I think it’s fantastic,” the 1992 World Champion told Top Offshore Sportsbooks of team orders. “If you’ve got a chance to actually win the Championship or Constructors’ Championship and one driver can help the other.

“I think the perfect example if you look back over the years is Sergio, he did a fantastic job with Red Bull. If you remember in the last race for Max that one year, holding Lewis Hamilton up and years before when Lewis did it to a few people.

“I think it adds a new interest. I think both Oscar and Lando are very blessed that McLaren is such a fantastic team now. What they’ve done this year to come from not being very competitive at the beginning of the year to being competitive, sort of a third of the way through the year, and then halfway through the year having a race-winning car. In my opinion, they’ve probably got the best car out there at the moment.

“So they’ll handle it superbly and between them I think they’ll sort it out if it comes into place because you can’t give away a place if you’re not the car behind.

“If someone’s winning the race and your team-mate is in third, then that’s a strong call to give the race win away. However, if you do that because you can still win the championship, you do it. But if it’s Max in between, then how are you going to do it?

“So it’s going to be on a race-by-race basis. But I think it’s just incredibly professional that the team have come and shared their view on what’s going to happen for the rest of the year.

“But I think it’s up to Lando to step up because he’s got to be at least as quick, if not quicker than Oscar and get the job done. And like Lando said himself, he’d like to do it on his own merit. So yeah, I mean the pressure’s on both of them.”

It has been said though that McLaren missed a trick in Hungary when they ordered Norris to move over for Piastri, who had been leading before the pit wall’s strategy handed Norris the undercut, and again in Monza when Piastri was allowed to overtake Norris on the opening lap.

Asked if McLaren had dropped the ball by not prioritising Norris earlier in the season, Mansell replied: “No, not really, because both drivers early on in the season made mistakes. I think McLaren have acted incredibly professionally for both drivers. They’ve done a stunning job for them and themselves and they’re to be congratulated.”

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