Jenson Button believes McLaren will need to implement overt team orders in favour of Lando Norris over the remainder of the F1 season to give themselves the best chance of overhauling Max Verstappen for the Drivers’ Championship.
The gripping 2024 season resumes at the United States Grand Prix in Austin this weekend, live on Sky Sports F1, with Norris aiming to make further inroads into Verstappen’s championship lead, which stands at 52 points.
Norris outscored Verstappen in each of the previous four races, by a total of 26 points, but will need to increase his rate of gains over the six Grands Prix and three Sprints that remain if he is to become world champion for the first time this year and deny his Red Bull rival a fourth successive crown.
Button, the 2009 world champion and former McLaren driver, joined the latest edition of the Sky Sports F1 Podcast to discuss the state of play in the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship battles and preview a crucial Sprint weekend in both title races at the Circuit of the Americas.
And although the Sky Sports pundit admits he is not a fan of team orders now or when he was a driver, and commends McLaren’s stance to operate as evenly-handily as possible, he believes that ultimately his old team have to make direct calls to favour Norris over team-mate Oscar Piastri during the run-in.
“I love that there’s no team orders because as a racing driver you hate them,” Button told the podcast.
“But at some point, if you want to win a world championship, you need to favour one driver.
“Especially at this point in the championship where every single point counts right now. For Lando if he has any opportunity on becoming a world champion in 2024, he needs every single point.
“And, you know, that’s even using Oscar to grab the fastest lap if Max has got it in a race.
“So it’s a really tricky situation for a driver, for drivers in a team and for a team. But it’s got to happen. You know, that’s the reason why Ferrari won so many world championships with Michael Schumacher. In a way why Vettel was able to win so many world championships.
“I think that sometimes you’ve got to bite the bullet and you need to favour one driver, especially at this point of the season. Oscar’s done an amazing job this year, but Lando has more points and a good amount more points.
“If the team want to win, not just the constructors’ but the drivers’ as well this year, that’s what’s going to have to happen.”
Button assesses McLaren’s ‘tricky call’
Having resisted calls earlier in the season to favour Norris over Piastri after flashpoints in Hungary and Monza, McLaren team boss Andrea Stella confirmed on the eve of the Azerbaijan GP two races ago that Norris would be given preference in “50-50 calls”.
But Norris has himself made clear he would not want Piastri to cede race wins to him should he be running second to the Australian in races.
Button added: “I like the way that they go racing, that they let their drivers fight. From a fan of the sport, that’s what we all want. It’s nice to see that both their drivers get equal opportunities.
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All the best bits from the Max Verstappen vs Lando Norris title battle so far in 2024 with six race weekends still to go.
“That’s always been the way. When I was racing with Lewis [Hamilton], we were team-mates in McLaren, we won six races one year [2011], and between us, three each. And if one of us won all those races, they might have won the world championship.
“McLaren could have won more world championships if they had team orders through the years. But I think the reason why drivers want to race for that team is because they don’t have the team orders and they can have equal treatment on either side.
“So it is real tricky one. From a fan’s point of view, it’s lovely they don’t have those team orders and I like that. But if they want to win more world championships, they’re going to have to stop.”
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Just six races remain in Formula 1 2024 and the season resumes with the United States Grand Prix in Austin from October 18-20, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Month Membership – No contract, cancel anytime
