Abu Dhabi GP: McLaren to hold talks with Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri over use of team orders at F1 2025 season finale

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella says talks will be held with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri over the possibility of team orders at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Norris leads the Drivers' Championship by 12 points from Max Verstappen but Piastri is still mathematically in the hunt, should his McLaren team-mate have a difficult race on Sunday after the lights go out at 1pm, live on Sky Sports F1 and Sky Sports Main Event.

Should Norris finish on the podium, he will be world champion no matter what his two title rivals do, but there are scenarios where he may need the help of Piastri, who may need to play the team game.

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"I think whatever call we make in terms of using the collaboration of our drivers will have to follow some of our fundamental principles, which are foundational to our approach," said Stella.

"We want to be fair to our drivers, we want to race with integrity, and we want to race in a way that doesn't surprise our drivers.

"So, before Abu Dhabi, there will be further conversation with Lando and Oscar. We will confirm our racing approach, but certainly what I can say is that if any of the drivers is in condition to pursue the quest to win the title, then we will respect this."

McLaren have refused to back one driver throughout the season, with chief executive Zak Brown saying last month he would rather lose the championship to Verstappen than favour one of his drivers.

Stella confirmed this will remain the case for Abu Dhabi until there is a situation where a driver needs to help his team-mate, so the team can win the Drivers' Championship.

"There will be no call which excludes the other driver when the other driver is in condition to win," he said.

"So, we will see what scenario will unfold, but definitely what I can say is that there will be conversations, and there will be a way of going racing which is united between the team and the drivers, like we have always done."

Stella wary of F1 history repeating itself

Stella has experienced both sides of an F1 title decider after he was a performance engineer at Ferrari in 2007 when Kimi Raikkonen edged out the McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso to win the title.

He was race engineer to Alonso at Ferrari in 2010 and 2012 when the Spaniard narrowly lost out to Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel on both occasions.

In 2007 and 2010, the third-placed driver in the standings heading into the last race won the championship. Stella is wary of this happening again, which is why he is still backing Piastri, who is the least likely to be champion on Sunday at 16 points behind Norris.

Stella said: "We have seen before in the history of Formula 1 that when you have this kind of situation sometimes it's the third one that actually wins. We have seen it I think in 2007, in 2010 and Oscar is fast, I think he deserves to be able to just realise his performance.

"We will let the drivers be in condition to race each other but above all what's important for us is that we are in condition to beat Verstappen with one of our two drivers."

A victory for Verstappen in Abu Dhabi with Norris not on the podium would mean the Dutchman wins a fifth straight title, regardless of what Piastri does, so Stella's main target is for the team to execute a clean weekend, having made a strategic blunder last Sunday in Qatar.

He explained: "The first element to focus on from a team point of view is make sure that we are in condition, prepared, determined to execute perfect race weekends, because the pace has been in the car, the drivers are doing an exceptionally good job but over the last couple of races from a team point of view we have not been in condition to capitalise on the good work of the drivers and the potential we have in the car.

"When it comes to the fact that we have two drivers in the quest for the World Championship, our philosophy and our approach will not change.

"We will leave both Oscar and Lando the possibility to compete and pursue their aspiration. Oscar from a points point of view is definitely in condition to win the title."

Sky Sports F1's live Abu Dhabi GP schedule

Thursday December 4
11am: Drivers' Press Conference
2pm: Paddock Uncut

Friday December 5
7am: F2 Practice
9am: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Practice One (session starts at 9.30am)*
10.55am: F2 Qualifying*
11.40am: Team Bosses' Press Conference*
12.45pm: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Practice Two (session starts at 1pm)*
2.15pm: The F1 Show*

Saturday December 6
10.15am: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Practice Three (session starts at 11:30am)*
12.10pm: F2 Sprint*
1.15pm: Abu Dhabi GP Qualifying build-up*
2pm: ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX QUALIFYING*
4pm: Ted's Qualifying Notebook*

Sunday December 7
9.10am: F2 Feature Race
11am: Grand Prix Sunday: Abu Dhabi GP build-up*
1pm: THE ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX*
3pm: Chequered Flag: Abu Dhabi GP reaction*
4pm: Ted's Notebook

*also on Sky Sports Main Event

The 2025 F1 season concludes with the title-deciding Abu Dhabi Grand Prix live on Sky Sports F1 from Friday. Stream Sky Sports with NOW - no contract, cancel anytime

(c) Sky Sports 2025: Abu Dhabi GP: McLaren to hold talks with Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri over use of team orders at F1 2025 season finale