McLaren urged to avoid F1 title fight team orders: 'This could be their only opportunity'

Former F1 driver Johnny Herbert has urged McLaren not to introduce team orders in the F1 drivers' title fight, insisting 2025 could be Oscar Piastri's and Lando Norris' "only opportunity" to become world champion.

McLaren has opted against team orders the majority of the campaign so far; however, did introduce them to some extent in Austria following an overtaking attempt by Piastri. 

The championship leader almost hit Norris at the Red Bull Ring, resulting in a radio message that the attempt was over the limit. It followed Norris crashing into Piastri in Canada. 

Piastri holds a marginal eight-point lead over Norris in the drivers' standings, a gap which reduced after the Briton won on home soil in the British Grand Prix. 

It was set to be a sixth win of the season for Piastri, only for a mistake whilst behind the safety car to hand victory to his team-mate following a 10-second time penalty. 

Piastri was heavily penalised for 'erratic braking', with Herbert noting the fact that a negative for the 24-year-old became an instant positive for Norris.

Discussing Piastri's British GP penalty and Norris securing victory, Herbert said during a RacingNews365 interview: "He [Piastri] mucked it up for himself at the end of the day. 

"But this is where you can take that negativity that Oscar had in a positive way for Lando, winning his first British Grand Prix, and that could be a very positive thing for him in the coming races, because there is a positive vibe for him. 

"He can feel, he can see that [Piastri's mistake] was probably a pressure thing, as we saw with Lando in Canada, when he drove into the back of Oscar. That was a precious situation I think, and I think it was a very similar thing with Oscar."

McLaren drivers energy search

With so little separating the two McLaren drivers across the first half of the season, the same is expected across the final 12 rounds, starting with the Belgian Grand Prix. 

For a non-McLaren driver to win the title this year, something extraordinary must happen to either Piastri or Norris, or for someone to win several consecutive races. 

It is Piastri's and Norris' to lose, something which brings with it additional pressure due to both drivers searching for a maiden F1 drivers' title. 

As a result, Herbert has urged both drivers to use all the energy they can get and for the team to let them fight until the end.

"It's going to be fascinating, because those two are still going to grow, and this could be their only opportunity to win a world championship," added Herbert.

"So they've got to throw every single piece of energy that they personally have, their family can give them, but also with the team at the same time.

"Hopefully they can give both drivers [energy], and I'm sure they will with the chance. And hopefully it will never come a point where team orders will come into play, because I think that would be an awful position to put the drivers in. 

"And I just think it wouldn't be a good finish to the season if that was the case, especially for the team, for Formula 1, especially more so if one of the drivers loses out because of that, I hope not, and I'm sure it won't."