Lando Norris says he won’t ask his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri to move aside for him in the final race of the Formula 1 season — even though it could help him win the world championship.
Norris leads Max Verstappen by 12 points and Piastri by 16 going into the last race in Abu Dhabi. All three drivers can still win the title. Norris just needs a top-three finish to guarantee becoming world champion. But if Verstappen wins and Norris finishes fourth or worse, Norris would lose the championship.
If Piastri is ahead of Norris during the race when Norris needs to finish higher, McLaren could ask Piastri to let Norris through. But Norris says he won’t request it because he doesn’t think it would be fair, and it would be up to Piastri to decide on his own.
Piastri is the long shot in the title fight — he must win the race and hope Norris finishes sixth or lower. He says the team hasn’t talked to him about swapping positions yet.
Norris says that if the situation were reversed, he would be willing to move aside to help Piastri win the title.
Norris has climbed back into the championship battle after strong results in recent races, and he’s hoping to become the 11th British driver to win the F1 world title.
Verstappen is still in the fight too and can match Michael Schumacher’s record of five straight titles if he wins the championship. His simplest path is to win in Abu Dhabi and hope Norris finishes outside the top three.
Norris says that no matter who wins between the three of them, they’ll congratulate the champion and move on to next season.
