Photo: Race Pictures

Piastri confident McLaren no team order approach is the right call for 2026

13:49, 02 Dec

bySamson Ero

Oscar Piastri has stated that McLaren’s fair-treatment approach among its drivers remains the right call, even for the 2026 campaign.

“I don’t think we need to change that approach.”

- Oscar Piastri

Speaking to GPblog after the Qatar Grand Prix, the Australian driver, backing McLaren’s approach, stated there haven’t been many scenarios where it has been detrimental to the drivers.

“I don’t think there have really been too many scenarios where it’s been detrimental to us. Obviously, there was what happened in Monza, but that’s really the only one where maybe you can… well, a lot of people did argue about it,” Piastri began.

Addressing his recent struggles compared to teammate Lando Norris, Piastri emphasised that the issues have largely been down to his own execution rather than the team’s approach.

Oscar Piastri at the Qatar GP Press Conference - Photo Credit: Race Pictures

“But I think the last few races have had nothing to do with how we’ve approached things as a team going wrong. On my side, it’s been some issues with the car and me just not working.”

“Clearly, Lando has been very quick over the last few weeks. This weekend, I think we got it wrong just because that’s what we thought was the right thing to do, not because we were concerned about what was fair or not,” he added.

Circling back to his initial point, Piastri concluded:

“I don’t think we need to change that approach. I think it yields a lot of positives. Yes, there are some tough moments, but there are also a lot of tough moments if you go in a different direction. I don’t think we need to change anything.”

The McLaren team has often echoed that its approach to its drivers has been one of fairness, with no need for team orders. This approach has often been pointed out as the team’s Achilles’ heel, particularly in its pursuit of its first drivers’ title since the 2008 campaign.

McLaren CEO speaks on team orders

Earlier, Zak Brown spoke about the possibility of implementing team orders for his drivers.

The McLaren CEO stated that imposing such a rule at this point in the season would make absolutely no sense, and the team will prefer to continue allowing its drivers to race freely until the final race in Abu Dhabi.