McLaren won’t shackle Norris or Piastri in Abu Dhabi — but Verstappen is the target
Andrea Stella has drawn the line with refreshing clarity ahead of Sunday’s title decider: McLaren won’t pick a favorite if both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri arrive in Abu Dhabi with the championship still mathematically alive. Race, yes. Wreck each other? Absolutely not. And above all else, beat Max Verstappen.
Norris carries a 12-point cushion over the Red Bull driver into Yas Marina, with Piastri a further four points back. It’s the first time since the summer that McLaren’s held the upper hand this close to the tape — and it would be stronger still had the team not tripped over itself in Qatar, where a Safety Car on Lap 7 turned into a gift-wrapped stop for Verstappen and flipped the race on its head. Piastri lost the win that day, and with it second in the standings, a tough swing for a driver who was once triple digits clear of the Dutchman after Zandvoort.
Still, Stella’s message hasn’t changed with the pressure. No artificial pecking order. No coded radio calls at lap 20. If both drivers can win this thing, both get to swing.
“When you have two drivers in the quest for the world championship, our approach won’t change,” the McLaren team principal said when asked about the team’s stance. “We’ll allow both Oscar and Lando to compete and pursue their ambition.”
He also knows how these finales tend to tilt. When two teammates fight, sometimes the outsider walks off with the silverware. 2007. 2010. The stuff that keeps team bosses chewing through headsets. Piastri is the outsider now, but he’s quick enough to make it awkward for everyone if the cards fall his way.
“We’ve seen before in the history of Formula 1 that when you have this kind of situation, sometimes it’s the third one that actually wins,” Stella said. “Oscar is fast. He deserves the chance to realise his performance… but above all, what’s important is that we are in a condition to beat Verstappen with one of our two drivers.”
That last line is the real point. McLaren’s been almost puritanical this season about letting its drivers race, and it’s won them a lot of fans. But this is the final round, not a philosophy seminar. So yes, the team is keeping the door open to cooperation if one scenario becomes obvious: one driver with a clean shot at the title, the other out of reach. If it comes to that, they don’t want anyone blindsided on lap 50.
“I think whatever call we make in terms of using the collaboration of our drivers will have to follow some of our fundamental principles,” Stella said. “We want to be fair to our drivers; we want to race with integrity; and we want to race in a way that doesn’t surprise our drivers.
“Before Abu Dhabi, there will be further conversation with Lando and Oscar. We will confirm our racing approach… If any of the drivers is in condition to pursue the quest to win the title, then we will respect this. There will be no call which excludes the other driver when the other driver is in condition to win.”
Translated: no engineered swaps if both are alive for the crown. But if one falls out of range on Sunday and the other needs help to keep Verstappen behind, expect the orange cars to play the team game they’ve largely avoided all year.
The tension here is less about rivalry and more about margin. Norris has the points in hand but not enough to take silly risks. Piastri has the pace to pinch this late and the motivation after Qatar’s sting. Verstappen, of course, needs neither invitation nor sympathy — give him a sniff and he’ll turn it into a banquet.
So McLaren arrives at Yas Marina walking a narrow line: no favoritism, no surprises, but one mission. Keep both drivers in the fight for as long as the maths allows, and if the evening turns into a one-car battle for the trophy, make the call quickly and cleanly.
That, as much as raw speed, may decide where this title ends up. The last time a team tried to thread this needle with two contenders, it got very messy very fast. McLaren’s bet is that their drivers, and their discipline, can handle the heat for one more night. If they do, they’ll leave Abu Dhabi with something the team hasn’t touched in a long time — the biggest prize of all, won on their terms.
