Montoya spots two McLaren problems in World Championship title pursuit

Former McLaren racer Juan Pablo Montoya warned of a call that came too late to prioritise Lando Norris and the need to keep Oscar Piastri interested as they chase a return to title-winning ways.

The early stages of F1 2024 suggested that a fresh campaign of Max Verstappen and Red Bull dominance was on the cars, but McLaren turned the tables, the Woking squad sitting atop the Constructors’ Championship by 41 points over Red Bull with six rounds to go, while Norris is attempting to hunt down Verstappen for the Drivers’ title.

Juan Pablo Montoya weighs in on McLaren title push

McLaren sense that a title double is not out of reach and are backing Norris in that quest, though team-mate Piastri has warned he is no “blank cheque”, with Norris uninterested in winning the title by someone moving over for him anyway.

And Montoya spots two issues facing McLaren, the first that the call to back Norris came too late in Montoya’s opinion and, secondly, the risk of Piastri, a two-time grand prix winner in F1 2024, losing interest in these remaining rounds.

“Talking of this season and Max and Lando, it’s unfolding. We’re entering a really crucial phase in the USA and Mexico and Vegas,” Montoya told Gambling Zone .

“Have McLaren made a mistake in not making Lando number one sooner? Or can Max hang on and just finish second and accumulate enough points?

“The hard thing for McLaren is Max keeps finishing on the podium. But McLaren had the opportunity to close that gap and put more pressure on Max, but it’s maybe now too late.

“McLaren should have made the decision about who is number one earlier. It’s a good lesson for all the teams. They should say that halfway through the season whoever is ahead becomes number one for the second half of the season.

“If somebody is clearly ahead, more than 10 per cent or 20 per cent of points, then that person would become number one. I think they need to do something.

“Hopefully McLaren don’t get to Abu Dhabi and think, ‘You know those four points here and six points there we missed out on, we would have been World Champions.’

F1 2024: Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri head-to-head

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

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

“So, the question is, is the Constructors’ Championship more important for them? I know, for Lando, the Drivers’ Championship is the priority. But for McLaren as a whole, winning the Constructors’ Championship would be a huge deal.

“Maybe they’ve looked at it and thought the chance of winning the Drivers’ is too slim and decided to keep focusing on the Constructors’ Championship.

“You don’t want to lose Oscar’s interest. Because if you lose interest in the second part of the season, and he goes from winning races and finishing second to finishing fifth, then that’s a problem.”

Norris has a gap of 52 points to Drivers’ Championship leader Verstappen to address, with six grands prix and three sprints remaining.

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