Lando Norris has claimed he has to “earn” number-one status at McLaren to enhance his Formula 1 title credentials this term rather than make demands on the team.
McLaren’s emergence as a match to Red Bull since introducing upgrades in Miami has seen Norris become Max Verstappen’s closest challenger in the championship.
But while he managed to cut Verstappen’s lead last weekend at the Hungaroring, Norris missed out on eradicating that advantage more as he abided by a team order.
Verstappen’s dominance earlier in the campaign giving him a substantial 76-point advantage has prompted arguments that McLaren should be prioritising Norris’ bid.
However, Norris, who lost his pole position advantage at the start, has repeated that he has no problem with the choice to let team-mate Oscar Piastri retake the lead.
“No, because that had nothing to do with last week,” Norris responded when asked whether McLaren should throw its weight behind a driver sooner rather than later.
“I shouldn’t had led the race, that’s the end of it. I shouldn’t have been in the lead.
“Oscar got me off the line, he controlled it well. That was it.
“I shouldn’t have led the race, and people shouldn’t have then had the perception of ah, the team are not biasing towards Lando.
“If Oscar was leading the whole race, there’s absolutely zero reason for them to ask him to suddenly let me past, if you’re thinking of it from a championship point of view.
“I don’t know when the point is of like, if I’m 10 points behind, 15 points behind, whatever. At what point then do you go, can you help out a bit more, can you do this or do that?
“I don’t know when that point is, and that’s not my decision.
“But when Oscar’s led the whole race and controlled it well, and from a strategy side, they’ve boxed me first, just to be safe, that’s just given the perception of something completely different.
“It shouldn’t do. Internally, we know it doesn’t. Oscar deserved to win and he did, simple as that.”
Norris conceded post-race that there were times throughout the closing stint when he was contemplating the championship picture as he deliberated McLaren’s call.
McLaren boss Andrea Stella has revealed the team could introduce a hierarchical structure between the drivers, but Norris insists that he has to prove he warrants it.
Asked whether he would like to have a conversation with either Stella or McLaren CEO Zak Brown about him being placed as the leading driver, Norris answered: “No.
“I still need to earn it, go out there and drive quicker than everyone. I don’t think it’s changed anything.
“I don’t know why is now the point that we would have a bias of one over the other.
“We have never had the bias in the team, it might have looked like it from the outside and that happens a lot now.”
Norris has acknowledged that it would be too soon in the campaign to impose a supporting role on Piastri, despite the Australian residing 40 points behind the Briton.
“I’ve had a chance the whole season. We are only halfway through and we have a hell of a long way to go,” he explained.
“Maybe further down the line, but that time is to be decided.”
