Max Verstappen could force McLaren into invoking team orders - Oscar Piastri

Oscar Piastri has admitted Max Verstappen could corner McLaren into enacting team orders further into the F1 season.

The Australian contended that if the Red Bull driver remains a championship threat to himself and team-mate Lando Norris, the Woking-based squad may need to rethink its impartiality.

Nine rounds into the campaign, the Dutchman cannot be ruled out of the equation, despite fighting with inferior machinery this term.

Piastri leads the standings on 186 points following his victory in Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix, with Norris 10 points behind. Four-time F1 champion Verstappen has fallen 49 adrift following a disastrous race at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya.

The presence of Verstappen in the title equation remains an intriguing dynamic.

A widely-held belief is that he could steal the crown through the back door, as McLaren driver Alain Prost did from the Williams duo of Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet in 1986.

Nonetheless, Piastri is adamant the papaya team should let him and Norris race, unless the gap widens and Verstappen's challenge persists.

"[We] both want to be world champion," the 24-year-old told Viaplay. "When you've got two quick drivers that can fight for that on merit, then you should let it happen.

"I think if one of us jumps ahead of the other and, say, Max - or if someone else, but probably Max - is still in the fight, then yes, maybe at some point there needs to be a conversation.

"But I think we're very far away from that point at the moment."