F1 team predicted to enforce strict team orders ‘in two or three races’ with clear No.1 driver

Sky F1 commentator David Croft believes team orders are on the way at McLaren in the second half of the F1 2024 season, with Oscar Piastri tipped to suffer alongside Lando Norris.

After the F1 2024 campaign began with the Max Verstappen and Red Bull dominance trend continuing, the situation has since changed drastically, with seven winners crowned across the opening 14 races. But,is this type of variety set to dry up a little in part two of the season?

David Croft predicts McLaren team orders with Oscar Piastri losing out

Ten rounds remain of the season and it is Norris who stands as the closest Drivers’ Championship challenger to Verstappen, with the McLaren driver currently 78 points behind. Yet Piastri is the most recent McLaren victor, scoring a maiden grand prix victory in Hungary as he continues to go from strength to strength.

However, Croft believes we are “two or three races away from team orders” at McLaren, with Piastri the one to be placed into a supporting role for Norris.

“Let’s look at this strategically. I think we’re two or three races away from team orders here, and team orders being imposed regularly,” Croft said on the Sky F1 podcast .

“Whereby, if Oscar is second to Lando in that McLaren battle, [the team will say]: ‘Oscar, you’re driving for your team-mate, because we need to prioritise him.'”

F1 2024 stats: How Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri compare

👉 F1 2024: Head-to-head qualifying record between team-mates

👉 F1 2024: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

Croft expects team orders to come into play more widely among the leading teams, but while Sergio Perez playing the supporting role to Max Verstappen at Red Bull is “his role”, Croft feels Mercedes and Ferrari could encounter trickier situations, considering they each have a driver who leaves after this season, Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz going to Ferrari and Williams respectively.

“Sergio knows his role. That’s always been second to Max ever since he signed for the team, really,” Croft continued.

“Ferrari, Charles [Leclerc] and Carlos are a little bit closer together and that’s maybe a more difficult task, especially with one of them leaving.

“And that could be the same at Mercedes, because you’ve got George [Russell] and Lewis and a team going great guns at the moment, but who do you say gets priority there?

“George will want to have that priority. Should have won Spa, but for being underweight and that wasn’t his fault, wasn’t the team’s fault. It’s just one of those things that happens there.

“But Lewis benefited, to the extent that he went and then picked up the win, his second win in the space of three races. What’s the difference between Lewis and George? It’s 34 points in the Championship.

“Lewis should get priority if Mercedes are going to do team orders, but they’re normally the last team that wants to do team orders. They want to give both drivers an equal chance.

“Lewis is probably a little bit too far away to seriously think about winning that Drivers Championship, but give it two or three races.

“If the lead of Max’s is chipped away, then I think we start to see team orders and we’ll get less variety. We’ll see teams going: ‘Right, Lando is our main man; Lewis is our main man; Charles is our main man.’

“And that will then solidify things a little bit more.”

And should these team orders come to be, Croft believes this will shine the spotlight even brighter on Red Bull’s decision to retain Perez for after the summer break, following an alarming slump in form.

With McLaren now only 42 points behind in the Constructors’ Championship , Red Bull had been seriously upping the pressure on Perez to return to form.

But could a team like McLaren relieve said pressure a little if Norris became the clear focus?

“Red Bull’s decision not to replace Sergio Perez could be even more critical, because the teams then focus on one driver, not both, that are challenging Red Bull,” Croft concluded.

The F1 2024 campaign resumes this weekend with the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, Verstappen’s home event, which he was won every year since it returned to the F1 calendar in 2021.

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