“Not acceptable” for McLaren to tell Piastri to help Norris win title now – Russell

McLaren should not resort to team orders in the final race of the season to ensure one of their drivers wins the world championship, says George Russell.

Both McLaren drivers have the chance to win the championship this weekend. Lando Norris leads the standings, 16 points ahead of Oscar Piastri. However the pair are separated by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who is 12 points off the lead.

McLaren has supported both its drivers in the fight for the championship all season. However it could face scenarios in the final race in which it can only ensure one of them – Norris – wins the title by ordering Piastri to help him.

But Russell believes it would be wrong for McLaren to do that. “I don’t think it’s acceptable or reasonable to ask a driver who’s also in [with] a shot of a championship in the very last race to move over for your team mate,” he said.

“I think if it were, in other seasons gone by, let’s say Checo [Perez] and Max [Verstappen] or [Rubens] Barrichello and [Michael] Schumacher, when clearly one driver is the one going for the championship, and if in the last race the guy who doesn’t have a shot of winning the championship moves over, that is absolutely reasonable and I think every single driver would do that.

“But for me, I don’t think it would be fair at all. I think they both need to be given a shot. And if they they lose out because of it, you just need to say the other guy did a better job and that’s racing. That’s how it should be.”

Russell doubts Mercedes will be quick enough this weekend to challenge the championship contenders for victory. Norris dominated last year’s race while Verstappen won the previous four races from pole.

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“McLaren have been so strong here the last few years – I think they had pole and won the last couple of years [sic] – and it hasn’t been our strongest track,” he said.

“But if we are in the mix, it’s not really our problem. We’re going out there to have the best race possible. I’m not going in to risk any more or any less than any other race for me. It’s one race of 24. It’s the last race of the season, but I treat every single one the same.”

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