"The team need to be able to say, 'Oscar Piastri, this is Lando Norris's year": F1 pundit gives his take on McLaren team orders

Former F1 driver turned pundit Karun Chandhok recently talked about how McLaren needs to give strong team orders in order to win championships with Lando Norris. He added that the British team needed to protect Norris by urging Oscar Piastri to perform certain maneuvers.

In the 2024 F1 season, McLaren made some questionable strategy calls where they tried to prioritize both their drivers. This cost them a few race wins, despite being one of the fastest cars on the grid.

In the Hungarian GP, they prioritized Piastri despite Norris being close to Verstappen in the drivers' standings with a chance to close the gap. In the Italian GP, McLaren left it to the drivers to race each other under 'papaya rules', resulting in a tight battle between the two on Lap 1 which could have caused a massive crash.

In the middle part of the season, Lando Norris started picking up major points and closed the gap to defending world champion Max Verstappen. However, the British driver's gap-closing speed has plateaued. Hence, all eyes are now on McLaren and how the team will create strategies to maximize Norris' chances to challenge the Red Bull star.

Ahead of the Azerbaijan GP, Chandhok talked about how McLaren now needs to prioritize Lando Norris and ask Oscar Piastri to help in any way possible. He also added that the team orders from them need to be stronger and more direct.

"I think the call needs to be strong. Somehow the team need to be able to say, 'Oscar, this is Lando's year'. If they want to win this championship and overcome 62 points, they have to put everything behind Lando," Chandhok said [0:25].

The former F1 driver then posed a scenario of the race at Baku where McLaren should order Piastri to defend others to let Norris create a massive lead in the front. He concluded that the final decision to act on these commands will depend on the Australian driver himself.

"Over here in Baku, when we get to turn 2, [team must order,] 'Oscar, defend. Block everyone. Protect Lando. Help Lando make the gap so he does not get undercut by Charles Leclerc in third. Do everything you can to help Lando'. That's the only way. Whether Oscar does that in terms of the contract was not what I got out from that interview," he added.

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Former F1 world champion warns Oscar Piastri that he might not receive help from his McLaren teammate in the future if he does not help him in 2024

Former F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve also discussed how Oscar Piastri's lack of help towards Lando Norris could backfire in the future if he ever needed help from his McLaren teammate.

Speaking to Sky Sports, the former Canadian driver said that Piastri should help Norris in order to receive help from him in the future if he would be chasing a championship. He warned the Australian that if he does not play the team game in 2024, he cannot expect his teammate to help him if the tables are turned in the future.

"You pay the price for you lack of pace earlier in the season, and that the following year it might be the other way around. It might be you ahead after five races and your teammate will help you. But if you don't play the game now, you can bet that the team and the other driver will not play the game the following year," Villeneuve said [at 1:27].

As of now, Lando Norris stands in second place in the table with 241 points, while defending world champion Max Verstappen leads the table with 303 points. Oscar Piastri is down in fourth place with 197 points.