Will McLaren allow Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to race? They always say the drivers are free to race, however whenever they get near on track, drivers are told to hold positions. Will this rob us of the only championship battle if the McLaren is so dominant? – Martin
There’s a simple answer to this question – yes. McLaren’s philosophy is that the drivers are free to race, with the caveat that the team’s interests always come first.
What that means is that the drivers have rules – Norris and Piastri can compete but they cannot risk each other’s cars.
That’s what explains the order, midway through the Australian Grand Prix, for the cars to hold station until they had cleared some lapped traffic and the team had a better understanding of the incoming wet weather.
Team principal Andrea Stella said: “During the race at some stage we had to go relatively soon through some backmarkers while the cars were close together and the conditions on track were still a little tricky with intermediate tyres that were running down a bit in terms of their rubber, and at the same time receiving some updates on the weather forecast.
“That led us to close, for a short period, the internal racing until we had clarity as to the weather prediction, what this meant for how we should use the tyres, and until we had closed the matter of overtaking the backmarkers. Once this was completed, we re-opened the racing.”
It was clear from the tone of Piastri’s reply that he was not that happy about being told to hold station – at that stage he had closed to within a second of Norris and was challenging for the lead, claiming he was quicker.
Once the drivers were allowed to race again, though, Norris extended the gap, and then Piastri made a mistake at Turn Six trying to keep up.
That suggests Norris had previously been managing his pace to contain the wear on his intermediates. And Piastri admitted his tyres were too far gone by then to challenge.
The overall philosophy was explained by Norris after qualifying.
“There are clearly rules we cannot cross,” he said. “Both cars must always stay in the race, but we’re both competitors. That’s clear.
“We both want to fight for a win and victories. But there are boundaries around the car – just a little more space here and there. We’re free to race, free to try and win races.
“But what won us the constructors’ last year was how we helped one another and how we kept things clean.”
