McLaren are in no mood to deny either of their drivers the chance to win a world championship this season, but that still leaves them in an awkward position.
Lando Norris currently leads the drivers’ championship and has a 13-point advantage over Oscar Piastri.
However, both McLaren drivers will be all too aware of the threat Max Verstappen poses.
The four-time world champion won the Japanese Grand Prix and now sits just a point behind Norris in the standings.
It was an unbelievable performance from Verstappen, producing one of the best qualifying laps of his career and leading from start to finish despite a brief skirmish with Norris exiting the pits.
In the closing stages of the race, Norris and Piastri were closely following Verstappen, but the Brit couldn’t get close enough to take advantage of DRS and attempt an overtaking move on a notoriously difficult track to pass on.
Piastri begged on the team radio to let him through, as he believed he was quicker than his McLaren teammate and could have beaten Verstappen.
His manager, former Red Bull driver Mark Webber, produced a telling response to McLaren not allowing the young Australian to have a go at the reigning champion.
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Mark Webber responds when asked about McLaren’s team orders to Oscar Piastri
Broadcaster Simon Lazenby was talking on The F1 Show in the aftermath of the race at Suzuka.
Talking about the latest occurrence of McLaren’s papaya rules, Lazenby said: “I spoke to Mark Webber afterwards, just before he was about to go on and do his thing with Channel 4, and I said, ‘Could he have got him, would he have got him?’
“And he said, ‘We’ll never know,’ but there were a few things [that] weren’t there, there were a number of ways that potentially they could have done it.
“They could have pursued the undercut, could they not? They could have been more aggressive with that, Andrea Stella poo-pooed that to you, Ted.
“They pitted Oscar first, they saw that the overcut wasn’t going to work because of what George Russell did and they didn’t let Oscar Piastri pass, with the proviso or actually say to Lando, ‘Go, go, go, if you wreck your tyres don’t worry, you’re not under threat from Oscar behind you.’
“So, there were a few ways they could have been more aggressive, could they not?”
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Both Webber and Piastri will believe that the 23-year-old has the talent to win the world championship this season.
Webber knows from his experience as a driver when he raced alongside Sebastian Vettel at Red Bull, that creating a scene when team orders go against you doesn’t get you anywhere.
However, this is the second time in three races where Piastri has had to back down under the orders of McLaren’s management.
Piastri was told not to attack Norris at the Australian Grand Prix when he was gaining on his teammate in soaking wet conditions.
He played by the rules that day, and despite getting into DRS range of Norris in Japan, didn’t attempt any moves that would have compromised his teammate.
However, McLaren will be dealing with a very unhappy driver sooner rather than later if they continue to favour Norris in this manner.
The Brit deserved track position after coming out on top in qualifying, and it would have been easy enough to switch them back around before the chequered flag if Piastri couldn’t get the move done.
But not even letting him have a go at catching Verstappen sets an unwanted precedent for both drivers for the rest of the season.
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