Nico Rosberg has shed light on the complexities McLaren faces in enforcing team orders, including asking Oscar Piastri to “forfeit a potential race win” to support his teammate Lando Norris’s championship bid.
Last weekend’s Italian Grand Prix resulted in a double podium finish for McLaren’s drivers, although both were beaten to the checkered flag by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, thanks in large part to the latter’s one-stop strategy.
However, for McLaren, the main takeaways from the race were that the team failed to maximise its result relative to championship rivals Red Bull and Max Verstappen who finished a lowly P6 at Monza, and that team orders must come into play sooner rather than later.
Norris currently sits 62 points behind Verstappen in the Drivers’ standings while Piastri is 106 points adrift.
Rosberg argues that while Norris is mathematically closer to Verstappen in the championship fight, Piastri remains a contender thanks to his strong form.
“It is hard though on Oscar, because Oscar, in his contract, he will have a [co-] number one contract,” the German told Sky F1 podcast. “Yeah, it won’t say in his contract that you need to help Lando.
“Oscar is driving brilliantly so he deserves every opportunity, just from his point of view, to get race wins.”
©McLaren
“Plus, let’s also remember, mathematically, he can still be World Champion. So there’s also that.
“I mean, he’s not that far behind Lando. It’s like 40 points or something, that he’s behind Lando, if I’m guessing now, something like that. So he’s not that far behind either.
“So, it’s hard to ask of Oscar to start forfeiting race wins potentially.”
Rosberg cautioned against the potential pitfalls of pressuring Piastri to forgo race wins for Norris.
“You need to be very, very careful,” he warned. “You need to be very careful because you can also destroy a young driver mentally if you suddenly don’t treat him fairly.
“And it can really break a trust. So it’s something very, very delicate, and then that’s why it’s so difficult to manage for them.”
After last weekend’s race McLaren indicated that they may need to consider team orders, given Norris’s better position to challenge Verstappen for the Drivers’ Championship.
However, as Rosberg’s insights suggest, managing this situation delicately is crucial to maintaining team harmony and supporting both drivers’ ambitions.
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