Formula 1: McLaren's monumental decision – and the inevitable consequence

After Max Verstappen had a strong start to the 2024 Formula 1 season, Lando Norris has managed to cut his deficit down to just 62 points in the driver standings.

Considering the fact that Red Bull have fallen considerably behind McLaren, Norris has a real chance of winning his first world championship.

The British driver must decrease his deficit to the Dutchman by an average of roughly eight points per race weekend throughout the rest of the season to win the title. However, given how well teammate Oscar Piastri and Ferrari have been performing recently, Norris will need a little bit of help to make his dreams come true.

Utilizing team orders will be discussed at McLaren

McLaren operate under what they call “papaya rules”, which allow for clean racing between Norris and Piastri. However, those rules seemingly cost McLaren a win and also resulted in Ferrari closing the gap to them in the constructor championship in Monza.

Team principal Andrea Stella later confirmed that these rules would be reviewed to assess whether continuing under them would be viable in Norris’ charge for the title. Many have deemed these rules as unreasonable, given what is at stake for McLaren in both championships this year.

Team orders would likely result in Norris being crowned world champion if Red Bull do not regain the pace they had to open the season. Both Stella and Zak Brown would have to instruct Piastri to defend Norris going forward, but the last few races suggest the Australian is not very willing to help his teammate.

This would not be the first time a teammate makes a sacrifice to help in a team’s quest for the driver championship. We saw this in 2021, with Valtteri Bottas helping Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez helping Max Verstappen. Obviously, it would be difficult for Piastri to sacrifice taking on Norris for P2 in the standings, but sometimes drivers have no choice but to oblige to their team’s aspirations.

The remaining eight races could provide us with lots of drama on the track and over the team radio. We could see radio exchanges similar to what transpired in Hungary, when Norris was reluctant to give up the lead to his teammate. When Formula 1 returns to Baku next weekend, all eyes will be on McLaren.

Team orders could backfire heavily

When Piastri was in his rookie season with McLaren, Zak Brown was quick to label him a future world champion. The McLaren Racing CEO holds a lot of pride in having two number one drivers and compares the team's current situation to the days of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost nearly four decades ago.

However, the 23-year-old seems to have taken a massive step up from his rookie season. He is chasing Charles Leclerc for P3 in the driver standings and does not want to diminish his chances of achieving that.

Piastri is too good to be playing second fiddle to Norris, and McLaren potentially choosing to implement team orders over the final eight races of the season could make him develop a sense of resentment.

This could lead to Piastri believing he deserves to be a number one driver and that that simply may not happen at McLaren as long as Norris is still there.

Though Piastri's contract is only due to expire at the end of 2026, he could force his way out of McLaren before that. A potential destination for him could be Mercedes, as both George Russell and Kimi Antonelli have contracts that are due to expire at the end of next season.

Toto Wolff may look to take this opportunity to sign Piastri, as it could be too good to pass up. Another possibility could be Red Bull, depending on what Christian Horner and Helmut Marko decide to do with Sergio Perez and Daniel Ricciardo. Max Verstappen's status is also in question, so Red Bull could look to capitalize on Piastri's unhappiness at McLaren.

Both Stella and Brown must carefully weigh their options to get Norris his first world championship, because that may require facing the consequence of how Piastri could feel about the sacrifices he presumably has to make going forward.

Sacrificing having arguably the best driver lineup on the grid may not be worth it in the end, if Lando Norris' only hope of winning this season's world championship is through team orders.