Lando Norris ignores McLaren orders to gift Oscar Piastri Qatar Gp Sprint win

A surprise end to the Qatar Grand Prix Sprint race saw Lando Norris, who started on pole and led throughout, pull to the side to let McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri win

Lando Norris said he ignored his McLaren team to give Oscar Piastri victory in the Qatar Sprint race.

Norris started Saturday’s short-form race on pole and led throughout. And he did so while driving slowly enough to keep Piastri within DRS range to help the Australian to defend against George Russell behind him.

It looked as though he would coast to the chequered flag at the end but he suddenly slowed down on the run to the line to let Piastri by. The Australian won by one-tenth of a second from Norris, while Russell was only three-tenths further back.

Norris explained afterwards that he wanted to return to the favour he felt he owed to Piastri, who had done the same thing when the Brit was still in the drivers’ title hunt in the Brazil Sprint. And he admitted that he had done so despite being told by McLaren not to try it.

Norris said: “It was probably closer than I wanted, but I planned to do it since Brazil. I just did what I thought was best. It was probably a little bit sketchy and the team told me not to do it, but I thought we could get away with it and we did.”

Despite advising against the move, McLaren bosses did not look too annoyed that Norris had ignored their wishes. Chief executive Zak Brown was beaming with delight at the result and team principal Andrea Stella heaped praise on his drivers.

The Italian said: “The Sprint race was interesting… We had a bit of a deficit from a tyre point of view which we needed to manage. At the same time, also had a rear wing configuration which was good in the corners but also made us a little bit slow in the straights.

“So the race today required a little bit of collaboration between our drivers, with Lando supporting Oscar with the DRS which was executed very well. Brilliant driving by Lando to help Oscar defend from George.

“When it comes to the swap at the end, Lando was very willing to return the favour that Oscar did for him in Brazil. We actually wanted to release the pressure off Lando by saying on the radio that we were happy to finish in that order, but Lando managed to find the opportunity to return the favour.

“Once again, he showed the collaboration, the unity, the cohesion that we have at McLaren. It is a point of strength and it is the foundation of our quest for the championship. Personally, I am very happy that we had the opportunity to give Oscar the victory he deserved from Brazil.”