McLaren boss says both F1 titles now on, orders may follow

MONZA, Italy : McLaren boss Andrea Stella said both Formula One titles were achievable after Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix and indicated team orders could be used to help Lando Norris battle Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Norris cut Verstappen’s lead to 62 points with eight races remaining, plus sprints, while McLaren are only eight behind Red Bull in the constructors’ standings.
The Briton would have cut Verstappen’s lead by much more had he converted pole position into victory at Monza but Australian team mate Oscar Piastri overtook him on lap one and also opened the door for Ferrari’s eventual winner Charles Leclerc.
Piastri finished second with Norris third, but the Australian is still 44 points behind his teammate.
Stella told reporters the team would review the race and possibly adjust the rules “such that they allow us to pursue in the best possible manner both the constructors’ championship and the drivers’ championship.
“We have to be now in condition to acknowledge that not only the constructors’ championship is possible but even from a driver’s point of view with the performance we have at the moment in the car, and some of the struggle that we see with Red Bull, it is definitely possible.
“So if we are going to achieve both as a team, we need to put the team in condition and Lando in condition to pursue both championships,” added the Italian.
Verstappen told reporters earlier that “at the moment both championships are not realistic” for Red Bull because his car had become an undriveable monster.
Stella worked with seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher at Ferrari, where team orders routinely favoured the German.
McLaren let both their drivers race according to ‘Papaya Rules’, which mean no collisions, but Piastri’s move – which Norris accepted as aggressive but fair – took points away from his teammate.
Stella hoped to see both McLarens frequently on the front row but said also that “we need to make sure that this is the best for the team and the best for Lando.
“I think both drivers are mathematically in condition (to win the title) but Lando is obviously in the best position from a numbers point of view and we are fighting Max Verstappen.
“So I think if we want to give support to one driver we definitely have to pick the one that is in the best position,” added the boss.
Stella said it would have looked “a little brutal” to ask Piastri to hand over the lead to Norris on Sunday but the request might come.
“We will review all these things for the next races and if we come to the conclusion that swapping is the right thing to do, then we will do it,” he said.