"Hope McLaren don’t regret waiting so long": Will Buxton gives his take on the squad implementing team orders between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri

F1 pundit Will Buxton said that he hoped McLaren F1's decision regarding favoring Lando Norris over Oscar Piastri didn't come too late for their title ambitions. The Woking-based outfit have had arguably the fastest car on the grid ever since the Miami Grand Prix earlier this season, but has only managed three race wins thus far.

The British team have seemingly hesitated in implementing team orders in the races despite Lando Norris leading his teammate Oscar Piastri in the championship and having a better chance of challenging Max Verstappen for the title.

In an exclusive interview with BBC, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said that they would support Lando Norris but won't compromise on their principles. He 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's 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," Stella said.

Will Buxton, who had previously been critical of McLaren's hesitation to favor the Brit driver over his Aussie teammate, reflected on Stella's comments and wrote (via his official X account):

"Hope McLaren don’t regret waiting so long. Explanation still seemingly leaves a bit of wiggle room. Let’s see how it plays out on track."

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McLaren team boss details the discussions with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said that his discussion with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri regarding the former's title ambitions were 'very collaborative'.

The Italian spoke about Piastri's agreement to give up a race win for Norris as the Brit did for the Aussie in the Hungarian GP before the summer break. Stella said (as quoted by the aforementioned source):

"The conversations have been very collaborative. Even when I said to Oscar: 'Would you be available to give up a victory?' He said: 'It's painful, but if it's the right thing to do now, I will do it'. Every driver is hard-wired to go for a victory. So I am always very impressed by the level of team spirit and maturity and collaboration that we found in this period," Stella said.

Detailing his team's approach in such situations, Stella said that while it was acceptable for teammates to occasionally support each other, it shouldn't culminate into "systematically adjusting" the race in a bid to secure points and compromise a teammate's deserved race win.

Lando Norris currently trails Max Verstappen by 62 points in the driver's championship, with eight races and three sprints remaining in the 2024 season. Ever since the Monaco GP, the British driver has been in contention for a win in every single race but managed to taste victory only recently, in Zandvoort.