Piastri defiant response with McLaren’s ‘internal politics’ questioned

Oscar Piastri isn’t chasing his manager Mark Webber for advice about handling internal politics as he’s free to race Lando Norris with McLaren resetting their driver hierarchy.

Featuring one of the more evenly matched driver line-ups, McLaren had to deal with a conundrum last season as the team emerged as title contenders.

Internal McLaren politics? Oscar Piastri isn’t bothered

McLaren broke out the ‘papaya rules’ after the Italian Grand Prix where Piastri mugged Norris off the line before Norris then lost second place to eventual race winner Charles Leclerc.

Team principal Andrea Stella told the BBC that McLaren would “bias our support to Lando” while still maintaining the principle of “team interest always comes first.

“Sportsmanship for us is important in the overall way we go racing. And then we want to be fair to both drivers.”

One race later Piastri capitalised on Norris’ Q1 exit to set himself for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix victory, his second of two grand prix victories in the F1 2024 championship.

How the McLaren head-to-head played out in F1 2024

?F1 2024: Head-to-head qualifying record between team-mates

?F1 2024: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

But with Norris still the preferred driver, Piastri moved over for his team-mate in the Brazilian Grand Prix Sprint, gifting Norris the victory.

It was a favour that was paid back later in the season when, with the title race over, Norris gave Piastri the Sprint win in Qatar. Norris finished the season runner-up in the standings while Piastri was fourth. McLaren won the Constructors’ title by 14 points ahead of Ferrari.

The Woking team are again expected to fight for the titles this year with both Piastri and Norris having a chance at beating Max Verstappen to the World title, which would be McLaren’s first since 2008.

It could mean another season of papaya rules with ABC Sport asking Piastri if he’d sought advice from his manager Webber about dealing with ‘internal politics’.

“It’s not something I’m focused on, really,” said the Australian driver. “More focused on racing and winning.

“I helped out Lando and the team when I was asked towards the end of the year. I know that if the roles are reversed, I will be helped, too.

“Next year [2025], we will be free to race each other.”

And Piastri has just one not-so-simple goal for the F1 2025 season.

“Win,” he said.

He added: “I’m really looking forward to next year. Winning will be the goal from day one.

“It is going to be a fight, for sure. The top teams are top teams for a reason, and they will all want to come back at us in 2025.”

The 2025 campaign, which begins in March with the Australian Grand Prix, will be Piastri’s third season on the grid. While he impressed in his first season, scoring two podiums on his way to ninth place, last season Piastri’s results showed notable growth as he bagged two wins, eight podiums and finished fourth in the standings.

“I’ve only completed two seasons in F1 so it’s natural that I still have a lot of room to grow and improve,” he said. “That’s what I’m most excited by as I know there is a lot more to come.

“You can’t buy experience but I’m gradually gaining that in this category and I’m very excited for the future.”

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