McLaren fires stern warning to Norris and Piastri after team orders spat

McLaren boss Andrea Stella has warned Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri of their F1 futures at the team if they disobey team orders.

The closing stages of the Hungarian Grand Prix were dominated by radio exchanges between Norris and his engineer Will Joseph about allowing Piastri back through into the lead he had gained at Turn 1 on the opening lap.

McLaren had decided to pit second-place runner Norris ahead of leader Piastri at the final round of pit-stops to cover Lewis Hamilton in third, but in doing this, Norris undercut Piastri and led the race.

After multiple laps of imploring Norris to let the Australian by, he finally did so on lap 68 of 70, allowing Piastri through for a maiden grand prix as the two led Hamilton home in third place.

Reflecting on the incident and the team order dispute, Stella has issued a firm, non-negotiable declaration to both Norris and Piastri. 

"We have discussions with our drivers before every race, and it is about our principles," Stella told media including RacingNews365. 

"It is very difficult to manage Formula 1 races if you only talk about rules like: 'the car ahead has priority at the stop'. 

"Because you then risk boxing yourself into a problem as every driver will desperately be trying to be ahead at the first corner because they want the priority.

"We talked about our principles going racing and one principle - I don't want to disclose too much - is that simple in that the interest of the team comes first.

"If you mess up on this matter, you cannot be part of the McLaren Formula 1 team. That is the principle.

"We will reaffirm some of the ways we collaborate with the messages for instance in case we need to solve situations like this. It is what we do before the race."

Stella has confidence in Norris

Norris's situation was compounded by the fact that championship-leader Max Verstappen was having a troubled day, and would eventually finish in fifth place and collect 10 points. 

Had Norris won, he would have taken 15 points out of Verstappen, reducing the deficit to 70 points instead of the 77 it is heading into the Belgian Grand Prix weekend with 11 rounds remaining. 

But when pushed on whether he thought Norris would refuse to obey the orders, Stella backed his driver.

"No, I know Lando enough, and I know that when you deal with a racing driver, sometimes you have to communicate to all the sides that exist inside the racing driver," Stella explained when asked by RacingNews365. 

"But I know Lando well enough that we have the race driver and the team player, these two elements came together perfectly to generate what was the right thing to do for the team, for Oscar, and for Lando.

"There is no racing driver by their nature who says: 'ok, when are we going to do that?' as they always hope that they are going to be P1 in a grand prix. 

"We were very clear before the race so it is a situation that I think proves and demonstrates what it means to be part of the McLaren Formula 1 team. 

"These values sometimes conflict with the instinct of a racing driver, but the values, the culture and the good of the team will always stay as the most important thing."

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