George Russell hands McLaren 'unacceptable' warning over potential Oscar Piastri team orders

George Russell has warned McLaren it would not be "acceptable" to order Oscar Piastri aside to aid Lando Norris's title chances in the Abu Dhabi title showdown.

Norris heads into the three-way finale on 408 points, ahead of Max Verstappen on 396, and Piastri on 392.

The permutations mean that if Verstappen wins the race, Norris must finish on the podium to secure the crown, but a scenario exists whereby Piastri could be the kingmaker.

If in the closing stages of the race, Verstappen is leading from Piastri in second or third with Norris in fourth, this result would give Verstappen the title, unless Piastri fell back to let his team-mate through.

McLaren bosses Zak Brown and Andrea Stella have been firm that team orders will not be imposed as long as both drivers retain a mathematical chance of winning the championship, with Brown even prepared to lose the title to Verstappen if it ensured fairness between his drivers.

Asked about the potential of team orders in the finale, Russell warned McLaren of imposing them on Piastri. 

"I don't think it is acceptable or reasonable to ask a driver who is also in with a shot of the championship in the very last race to move over for your team-mate," Russell told media, including RacingNews365. 

"In other seasons gone by, let's say it was Checo [Perez] and Max, or [Rubens] Barrichello and [Michael] Schumacher, when clearly only one driver is going for the championship, and if in the last race, the guy who doesn't have a shot at winning the championship moves over.

"That is absolutely reasonable, and I think every single driver would do that, but for me, it wouldn't be fair at all.

"They both need to be given a shot, and if they lose out because of it, you just need to say the other guy did a better job, and that is racing.

"That is how it should be."