Oscar Piastri – prepared by McLaren to support team-mate Lando Norris’ title charge – explained why this marks a big shift from the junior scene mentality, yet egos have not clashes.

While McLaren wants to go about their F1 2024 title charge by sticking to their principles, the increasingly strong position which they find themselves in has seen team orders become a major talking point, having opened up a 41-point lead over Red Bull at the top of the Constructors’ Championship, while Norris has reduced Max Verstappen’s Drivers’ Championship lead to 52 points.

Oscar Piastri cites ‘big difference’ with McLaren team orders on the agenda

But, while Norris is best-placed to chase the title, Piastri has also impressed in what is only his second Formula 1 season, taking his first victories at the F1 2024 Hungarian and Azerbaijan GPs.

Piastri demonstrated his potential throughout his junior career, winning the Formula Renault Eurocup, Formula 3 and Formula 2 titles in consecutive seasons, yet now, despite resuming his race-winning ways in F1, Piastri may be the one who needs to play the supporting role for Norris.

Nonetheless, while this is a major shift from his experiences on the junior ladder, Piastri fully accepts that there is a “bigger picture” at play in Formula 1 and “burning your bridges” with your team is not wise.

Speaking to RACER about team orders coming into play in F1, Piastri said: “The reason for the big difference is in the junior categories you’re paying the teams, and in F1 the teams are paying you in 99 per cent of cases, so that’s really where the difference lies.

“Even in the junior categories, though, maybe it doesn’t start early, but in the last race of the year, I’ve not had people pulling over for me to win championships, but I’ve had team-mates not making life as difficult as they normally would for me. So I’ve kind of experienced it a bit before, and thankfully, I’ve been on the receiving end of the help.

“It is something to get used to, but in my eyes anyway, it is very easy to see when you join F1 just how much of a team effort it is. One of the differences is, instead of having 30 people working for you in F2, which seems like a lot at the time, you’ve got 1000.

“And when you consider how much money is put in, how many sponsors are involved, how many people are involved, you’ve got all sorts of things that there’s a much bigger picture than just ‘do it for me’, and it becomes very easy to put that into perspective.

“Of course, when you start fighting for race wins and championships at the end of the day, we’re racing drivers, and we want our own personal success. But I think for me, a real strength of the team is that we are allowed to have our personal success alongside the team success.

“I think Lando and I have worked incredibly well at, whilst we’ve been trying to get there, very much prioritising the team. There’s never, ever been a situation – even now that we’re fighting at the front – between us in terms of egos.

“So I think that’s been a real strength for us, but it is something to get used to a little bit. Once you put the bigger picture into perspective, for me, it becomes a pretty easy decision in terms of doing it.

“Also, you know that the team is there to help you, and burning your bridges with the team you’re racing for is never a smart idea. So even if at the time, sometimes it might seem a bit painful, there is always a bigger picture.”

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri McLaren head-to-head F1 2024 stats

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

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

However, while Piastri seemingly has zero complaints about playing the team game when required, Norris does have boundaries when it comes to how he would want them used for his benefit.

If he is to go on to clinch his first Drivers’ title in F1 2024, or should that moment arrive in future, he wants to feel like he earned it.

Asked by Sky F1 if it worries him that the title door may close if McLaren do not maximise every point, Norris replied: “I know and I don’t want to go five years down the line and go, ‘I only won because people let me pass and this happened and that’.

“Like, it’s not, I think, a deserving victory, and I want to win in a deserving way.

“I get people’s biases and people’s opinions, but I’m happy with what we’re doing and I also need to go out and do the job correctly, and I’ll be more proud that I’ve done it that way than if I haven’t.”

Six rounds remain in F1 2024 and Norris’ pursuit of Verstappen, Norris having produced his most dominant performance yet in Singapore last time out, as he went from pole to a 21-second victory over Verstappen.

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