{"id":23914,"date":"2024-09-02T04:05:02","date_gmt":"2024-09-02T08:05:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=23914"},"modified":"2024-09-02T04:13:08","modified_gmt":"2024-09-02T08:13:08","slug":"f1-news-mclaren-could-begin-prioritising-lando-norris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/09\/02\/f1-news-mclaren-could-begin-prioritising-lando-norris\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 News: McLaren could begin prioritising Lando Norris"},"content":{"rendered":"

Not for the first time in 2024, McLaren threw away a race victory in Monza. Poor strategy prevented Oscar Piastri<\/a> from winning a race that, for the most part, he was in control of. Meanwhile, Norris<\/a> lost two positions off the start after a brief and ultimately costly battle with teammate Piastri. Moving forward, the team will begin considering the implementation of team orders.<\/p>\n

F1 News: McLaren to look at team orders<\/strong><\/h2>\n

McLaren throw away more points<\/h4>\n

Historically, McLaren have always been hesitant to use team orders. The likes of Ferrari<\/a>, Red Bull<\/a> and Mercedes<\/a> are traditionally more cut-throat when making decisions to prioritise one driver in the Championship.<\/p>\n

Until now, the Woking-based team have tried to avoid making any commitments to one driver. However, implementing a clear stance on this topic cannot be delayed any longer.<\/p>\n

Red Bull are extremely vulnerable in both Championships, with McLaren almost guaranteed to overtake them in the constructors’ standings in the coming rounds.<\/p>\n

However, there is a bigger deficit for Lando Norris to overturn in the drivers’ Championship. With eight rounds left in the season, the margin for error is becoming smaller and smaller.<\/p>\n

Speaking after a disappointing Italian GP, team principal Andrea Stella discussed this topic:<\/p>\n

“We have now to acknowledge that not only the constructors\u2019 championship is possible,” he told the BBC<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

“But – with the performance we have at the moment in the car, and some of the struggle we see with Red Bull – even the drivers\u2019 [Championship] is definitely possible.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
Lando Norris, McLaren F1 Team, gets out of the car on the grid<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“If we can achieve both, we need to put the team and Lando in [a] position to pursue both championships.<\/em><\/p>\n

“Both drivers are mathematically in condition to do so.<\/em><\/p>\n

“But Lando is in the best position from a numbers point of view, and we are fighting Max Verstappen.<\/em><\/p>\n

“So if we want to give support to one driver, we have to pick the one in the best position.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Time is running out<\/h4>\n

On paper, having two drivers of a similar calibre is a huge advantage. Norris<\/a> and Piastri put themselves in an ideal position after qualifying (and even after turn 1) to secure a 1-2 finish at a circuit where Ferrari were very competitive.<\/p>\n

However, as seen throughout the race distance, this also presents a problem for McLaren<\/a>. The British team were committing numerous operational blunders at the beginning of the season when the stakes were much lower.<\/p>\n

Now that two Championships are on the line, managing two drivers aiming for victory is proving too great of a challenge for Andrea Stella’s team.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24, battles with Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Realistically, McLaren and Norris should be leading in both Championships. Poorly executed races like yesterday’s are the only reason that an increasingly uncompetitive RB20 is still leading the standings.<\/p>\n

If the Woking-based operation can begin delivering the results that the MCL38 deserves, they can take the lead in both Championships and create a gap. Now is the time to capitalise on Red Bull’s persistent struggles<\/a>, especially since there is no guarantee they will last.<\/p>\n

There is plenty for McLaren to think about as their driver management emerges as the hottest topic in F1 news.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not for the first time in 2024, McLaren threw away a race victory in Monza. Poor strategy prevented Oscar Piastri from winning a race that, for the most part, he was in control of. Meanwhile, Norris lost two positions off the start after a brief and ultimately costly battle with teammate Piastri. Moving forward, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":23915,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4,3],"tags":[2220,1959,68,465,444,66,1569],"class_list":["post-23914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-2024-formula-1-season","tag-andrea-stella","tag-f1","tag-f1-news","tag-lando-norris","tag-mclaren","tag-oscar-piastri"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4927"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}