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McLaren is set to introduce team instructions to assist Lando Norris in his bid to beat Max Verstappen for the Drivers’ World Championship at this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Extensive reporting following a BBC interview published on Thursday in which McLaren team boss Andrea Stella said the team would “support Lando with great enthusiasm” made it clear that the team was moving away from its policy of non-interference.
“The overall concept is that we are incredibly determined to win, but we want to win the right way,” Stella said.
“We will support Lando, but we want to do so without deviating too much from our principles.
“Our principles are that the team’s interests always come first. Sportsmanship is important to us, no matter how we race. And then we want to be fair to both drivers.”
Briton Norris is 62 points behind three-time champion Verstappen of Red Bull, with eight Grand Prix races and three sprint races still to go this year.
His Australian McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri is in fourth place, 106 points behind the Dutchman, and has played a key role in the team moving within eight points of Red Bull in the race for the constructors’ championship.
But given the freedom to drive without interference, drivers have lost points in some races where their battles gave other drivers an opportunity, such as the recent Italian Grand Prix at Monza, won by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
The two McLarens started the race with a block occupancy of the first row.
On current form, McLaren could be the fastest team in Baku and overtake McLaren to displace Red Bull from the top of the teams’ title race for the first time in more than two years.
Verstappen, who dominated the title fight last season, has not won six races since the Spanish Grand Prix in June.
Stella, a former Italian Ferrari engineer, said both drivers had accepted the decision.
“When I asked Oscar, ‘Would you be willing to give up a win?’ he said, ‘It’s painful, but if it’s the right thing to do now, I’ll do it,'” Stella said.
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