McLaren confirm Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri set for team orders discussion

Andrea Stella insists McLaren does not want to "surprise" Lando Norris or Oscar Piastri at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix by enacting team orders in a scenario it has not discussed with them.

The Italian confirmed the Woking-based squad will have "further conversations" on the matter ahead of the round at the Yas Marina Circuit, but was quick to stress it will not issue an instruction if they both remain "in condition" to fight for the title.

Whilst the 54-year-old maintains the team's "philosophy and approach will not change", the renewed stance does represent a softening of its position, suggesting a call could be made in the right situation.

Heading into the season finale, Lando Norris leads Oscar Piastri by 16 points in the F1 drivers' championship.

However, the spanner in the works is that Max Verstappen lies between them, 12 points off the former and four ahead of the latter, something that makes the campaign-ending round all the more difficult to navigate.

When asked by RacingNews365 after the Qatar Grand Prix how tough it would be to ask Piastri to help Norris if the weekend unfolds in Red Bull's favour, Stella replied: "I think whatever call we make in terms of using the collaboration of our drivers, it will have to follow some of our fundamental principles, which are foundational to our approach.

"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.

"So, between now and Abu Dhabi, there will be further conversations with Lando and Oscar. We will confirm our racing approach.

"But certainly what I can say is that: If any of the drivers is in condition to pursue the quest to win the title, then we will respect this, and there will be no call which excludes the other driver when the other driver is in condition to win.

"So we will see what scenario will unfold. But definitely, what I can say is that there will be conversations, and there will be a way of going racing which is united between the team and the drivers, like we have always done."

Leaning on empirical evidence

However, the McLaren team principal was unwavering in the stance that the constructors' champions will not get involved before it has to.

Citing 2007 and 2010 as examples, Stella underlined his belief that Piastri remains in factor in the title battle, despite the considerable challenge that lies ahead of the Australian.

"When it comes to the fact that we have two drivers in the quest for the world championship, our philosophy and our approach will not change," he said.

"We will leave both Oscar and Lando the possibility to compete and pursue their aspiration.

"Oscar, from a points point of view, is definitely in condition to win the title.

"We have seen before in the history of Formula 1 that when you have this kind of situation, sometimes it is the third one who actually wins.

"We have seen it in 2007, in 2010, and Oscar is fast. I think he deserves to be able to realise his performance.

"We will let the drivers be in condition to race each other. But above all, what's important for us is that we are in condition to beat Verstappen with one of our two drivers."