Lando Norris said he had been planning to give a sprint race victory back to Oscar Piastri ever since his McLaren teammate moved aside for him in Brazil earlier this year.
The two drivers were running first and second on the final lap of Saturday’s sprint race in Qatar when Norris slowed coming out of the final corner and allowed Piastri to take the victory.
“I made my mind up in Brazil when it happened,” Norris said. “It’s a sprint — I only care about the grand prix, as does everyone.
“After it happened in Brazil, I made my mind up that I needed to do something to give it back.”
The swap in Brazil was imposed on Piastri by McLaren in an effort to maximise Norris’ chances of winning the drivers’ title.
At that stage of the season, Norris still had a slim chance of beating Max Verstappen to this year’s championship and needed every point possible to put pressure on the Red Bull driver.
But after last weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix decided the championship battle in favour of Verstappen, Norris took it upon himself to give a victory back to his teammate once they were running first and second in Qatar.
Due to the proximity of George Russell’s Mercedes in third place, Norris was told not to make the swap in case it jeopardised McLaren’s one-two victory, but he chose to ignore that call.
“It wasn’t something that was really discussed [before the race],” he said. “I didn’t have to do it if I didn’t want to.
“I told my engineer that I would do it. So he was the main one that probably knew about it. And I told him before the race if we have a bit of a gap and we’re first and second, and then I would try and do it.
“So he knew and he was telling me not to do it because I think the gap to George was probably a bit too fine for their liking.
“But, you know, Oscar did his part in trying to help me get closer to Max in the championship and give that opportunity a go.
“You know, I deserved that right to have a chance and that’s how we have to work as a team, when one of us has that opportunity. And I returned the favour today.
“I don’t think any of us are proud of necessarily winning a sprint race or we’re also not too unhappy on giving up a sprint race win. But we work together well as a team, and I think that’s probably one of our biggest strengths over everyone is how well we work together.
“I don’t think any other team would do such a thing and help each other as much as we’ve done this year for one another. And, yeah, it’s our strength, and we’ll continue to do that.”
The subject of team orders became a major talking point at McLaren after Piastri finished ahead of Norris at the Hungarian and Italian Grands Prix earlier in the year.
Although Norris’ title chances seemed slim at the time, had McLaren chosen to favour the British driver in those circumstances, this year’s championship race would still be alive in Qatar.
After Piastri overtook Norris for the lead of the Italian Grand Prix on the opening lap at Monza, McLaren confirmed it would impose team orders going forward in order to help with Norris’ championship campaign.
Speaking on Saturday, Piastri said McLaren’s teamwork was one of its biggest strengths and he had no regrets with how the season played out. “This year there’s been a lot of noise about how we go racing as a team and whether it’s right mostly whether it’s wrong,” Piastri said. “But I think we’ve always been very comfortable with how we’ve done things.
“You know it’s always been very clear that the team comes first and in some scenarios, that means myself helping Lando. In some scenarios, that means Lando helping me.
“I think it’s a big strength that we have, that we’re willing and so cooperative with each other. Whilst it maybe doesn’t mean the world to us sometimes, I think for the whole culture and what it displays for the rest of the team is incredibly important.
“And, you know, I think if you’ve got both drivers so willing to work together and help each other out, then it’s the best example for the rest of the team, because it’s not just about us two, it’s about the hundreds and thousands of people trying to help us win.
“We’re trying to make it so that we can just fight for first and second and not have to worry about everyone else. Of course, everybody is, but I think it just speaks a lot of the teamwork culture.”
