McLaren’s task is to "balance" the interests of the team with the "selfishness" of its drivers, Oscar Piastri has admitted.
Having now overtaken Red Bull as the fastest car in 2024, McLaren is facing widespread criticism for not elevating Lando Norris to clear ’number 1’ status for his drivers’ championship quest.
Dutch GP boss Jan Lammers admitted after Monza that the only explanation might be that Piastri’s manager Mark Webber negotiated guaranteed equal status in the 23-year-old’s contract.
2016 world champion Nico Rosberg agrees.
"Oscar, in his contract, he will have a number 1 contract," he told Sky. "It won’t say in his contract that ’you need to help Lando’."
But that doesn’t mean the Woking based team cannot explain to Piastri, who is 44 points behind Norris, that it makes sense for him to support his teammate going forwards.
"If we win both championships, it will be a big boost and it will benefit the team a lot, even if he is the other driver, because we must not forget that Oscar is in the middle of his second season in Formula 1," team boss Andrea Stella said.
"The future is Oscar’s. You have to make sure that when the time comes to support, even the support he gives to the team or to Lando, for him it is an investment."
Piastri has told GQ magazine that he understands McLaren’s predicament.
"We’re a team of over 1000 people, and I’m just one of the two guys that gets to drive the car," said the Australian. "There’s much more at stake than just my personal pride or ambitions.
"Hopefully, I can make a bit of an extra difference on track as all the drivers do but it’s pretty straightforward to understand that we are a massive team, and there are the ambitions of 1000 people here, as well as the millions of fans that we have.
"There’s a very big picture at play, but ultimately, if you make your car quick enough, then you get the opportunity to balance both. It’s quite a pressurised position to be in."
Piastri continued: "It’s a very cool position to be in but as a driver, there is an element of selfishness in there, which is partly what makes us strong as drivers."