Verstappen backs McLaren’s rejection of team orders

Max Verstappen believes McLaren is taking the right approach by letting its drivers continue to fight for the title heading into the Qatar Grand Prix, even if it helps his own chances.

Lando Norris leads both Oscar Piastri and Verstappen by 24 points arriving at the penultimate round of the season, meaning he will become champion if he outscores both by two points, or by one point and wins Sunday’s race. Piastri says McLaren had “a brief discussion” about team orders and that he’s not prepared to help Norris at this stage as he’s still in the title fight, with Verstappen backing that call.

“It's perfect, I think,” Verstappen said. “You can't do a better job than allowing them to race as well. Because why would you suddenly now say that Oscar wouldn't be allowed to anymore? I mean, if that was said to me, I would have not rocked up. I would have told them to eff off!

“If you're a real winner and a racer as a driver, then you go for it, even if you're behind. I mean, what's the point otherwise to turning up? Otherwise, you can easily just label yourself as a number two driver, which I think he doesn't want to be.

“I know that I'm equal on points with Oscar. A lot still needs to go right. But I think it should be like that, that they are free to race and hopefully we can make it a great battle till the end.”

Verstappen was speaking to the media in Qatar for the first time since learning of both McLarens being disqualified from the last race in Las Vegas, reducing his deficit to Norris from 42 points to 24, but he says Red Bull’s approach won’t change despite being within a race win of the championships lead.

“I was flying home. I knew there was some kind of investigation going into the plank, and when it's too low, it's too low. There’s not much that you can argue about that.

“Of course, every team always runs it as low as they possibly can and sometimes you get it right. Sometimes it's a bit harder to measure, but there's no excuse. When you're too low, it's too low. Same with other rules in the sport. Unfortunately, it's like that.

“Of course, the gap closed a bit with that, but still 24 points. A lot needs to go well till the end to have a chance, but it's definitely a better chance than what it was before that, so, we take it. But you need to also be aware that even if you win everything, you still need a bit of luck, right?

"So, we'll see how that goes. For us, nothing changes. We go all in. We have nothing to lose.”