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Lando Norris gave up victory in the Qatar Sprint as payback to team-mate Oscar Piastri’s service over the Sao Paulo Grand Prix earlier this season.
Norris started on pole and led every lap of Saturday’s Sprint, managing his pace to afford Piastri DRS to aid his defence of second against George Russell.
Then, out of the final corner, the Brit slowed and allowed his team-mate to pass, Piastri winning by 0.136s over Norris, with Russell only 0.4s back in third.
It was a high-risk move, but a high-profile show of trust of respect between the two McLaren drivers.
“This year, there’s been a lot of noise about how we go racing as a team and whether it’s right – mostly whether it’s wrong,” Oscar Piastri said when asked by Speedcafe about the respect and culture that exists between the drivers and within the team.
“We’ve always been very comfortable with how we’ve done things.
“It’s always been very clear that the team comes first.”
While evidenced a handful of times, there were in reality few instances where the impact of team orders was noteworthy.
The Sao Paulo Sprint sticks out, with Piastri moving aside and handing his team-mate victory, but it has otherwise been far more subtle.
In Azerbaijan, Norris played an integral part in Piastri’s win by delaying Sergio Perez following the Mexican’s first pit stop.
Team orders were never used as an excuse to preference Norris at the expense of Piastri, but to further the team’s cause.
“It’s a big strength that we have, that we’re willing and so co-operative with each other,” Piastri reasoned.
“Whilst that maybe doesn’t mean the world to us [giving up a Sprint win], sometimes I think for the whole culture, and what it displays for the rest of the team is incredibly important.
“If you’ve got both drivers willing to work together and help each other out, then it’s the best example for the rest of the team because it’s not just about us two; it’s about the hundreds and 1000s of people trying to help us win.
“I think it just speaks a lot of the teamwork and culture.”
But it wasn’t always straight-forward.
In Hungary, a strategic move by the team saw Norris given track position, and the race lead, over Piastri who had otherwise controlled the race.
Initially reluctant to give the place back, he eventually did in the closing laps of the race. That was a test of the McLaren culture, and it is fair to suggest it only just scraped through with a passing grade.
Since then, it’s been more straight-forward, Norris emerging as McLaren’s strongest chance of the drivers’ championship.
As such, he was the favoured car, logically so, but not at the detriment of the team’s broader ambitions which are to secure the constructors’ championship.
“A lot of what you guys write about and talk about has been because of the championship fight, the drivers’ championship fight,” Norris said when Speedcafe asked him about respect he has for Piastri.
“That’s where a lot of talk and things started. And I earned my right to have some of those privileges. I earned my right by doing a good job through the whole season to be given that opportunity.
“I want to go out and give Max [Verstappen] a fair fight and do my part and earn it my way.
“Sometimes there’s inclusions, which is Oscar helping me on a couple of occasions.
“Everyone spoke like it was going to be every race, and we went into Baku and it was actually the opposite way around.”
But while Norris arguably enjoyed preferential treatment while battling for the title, now the championship is out of reach, he is no longer in that position.
While McLaren always took priority above his individual ambitions even in the height of Norris’ drivers’ title quest, the constructors’ crown is now the squad’s sole focus.
However, that doesn’t mean the drivers are oblivious to one another, and Norris handing victory in the Qatar Sprint to Piastri was proof of that.
It was a thank you of sorts, a squaring of the ledger for the sacrifice the Australian made towards his team-mate’s title ambitions.
It was a demonstration in real terms of McLaren culture, the respect between the two, and Norris’ integrity.
“Oscar helped me win in Brazil,” he explained.
“Suddenly, things turned for the worst on Sunday and the opportunity was gone.
“But I rebutted today. It’s our strength as a team.
“It’s definitely a part of why we are where we are as a team now, why we are the top team in Formula 1 and why we’re fighting to win the constructors’.”
Piastri added of being gifted the return Sprint win: “I think it just speaks about our teamwork and fairness for the team.
“Obviously it doesn’t doesn’t change the points, and it just shows off our teamwork and and lack of egos.”
McLaren now holds a 30-point advantage in the constructors’ championship over Ferrari.
Should that grow to 45 points by Sunday evening, McLaren will win the competition for the first time since 1998.
