Max Verstappen sends ‘never accept’ message to Oscar Piastri over McLaren team orders

Max Verstappen has said that, if he was in Oscar Piastri’s position, he would “never accept” being placed in a support role – but admitted “it’s easy to talk” from afar.

Senior figures at McLaren have spoken about team orders being placed in favour of Lando Norris for the remainder of the season, when it makes sense to do so, given he is Verstappen’s nearest challenger in the Drivers’ Championship – though Piastri himself currently sits fourth in the standings, 42 points behind his team-mate.

Max Verstappen: Oscar Piastri ‘definitely not’ a number two driver

McLaren CEO Zak Brown has spoken on several occasions about the team having “two number ones” in Norris and Piastri, though with the Briton in the box seat to challenge the Red Bull driver in the remaining races, marginal calls are set to go Norris’ way as he brings a title challenge to Verstappen – though not at the expense of giving up race victories.

Norris himself has said previously he wants to win the title on his own merits, and Piastri said team orders are not a “blank cheque” from his perspective – and reigning World Champion Verstappen believes the Australian “doesn’t deserve” to be “second fiddle” within a team, given his talents.

“For me, he’s definitely not a [number two driver] and if I was him I would never accept it,” Verstappen told Motorsport.com .

“For me, it’s easy to talk, of course, because I’ve been in Formula 1 for 10 years and it’s Oscar’s second season, so it is always harder to put your foot down.

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“But he’s just a great F1 driver who doesn’t deserve it to give up wins and positions and play second fiddle because he’s asked to.”

McLaren now sit ahead of Red Bull in the Constructors’ Championship, but Verstappen still holds a 52-point lead in the Drivers’ standings as the season gets set to resume in Austin this weekend.

Given that rate of progress from being one of the outright slowest cars at the start of last season to now leading the championship, Verstappen praised the team for how they have gone about that transformation, as well as the drivers.

When asked if he sees McLaren as the having the best driver pairing among Red Bull’s rivals, he replied: “Yes, because they are closely matched and because they are both quick.

“McLaren has really put the right people in the right place, people that were already working at the team.

“The people there aren’t all new hires, apart from people like [former Red Bull designer] Rob Marshall.

“But some staff have been given new roles, and you can see how quickly that can have an impact.”

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