Team title now McLaren's first objective - Piastri
Oscar Piastri insists that McLaren's primary objective for the remainder of the season is to secure the constructors championship rather than get sidetracked into pushing for the drivers title.
The team's intentions have been a matter of live debate in recent weeks ever since the controversial finish to the Hungarian Grand Prix, where Lando Norris was issued team orders to hand over the lead of the race to Piastri.
Both outcomes would have resulted in a famous McLaren 1-2 victory, which has helped bring them within 42 points of Red Bull at the top of the team standings after 14 of 24 races.
But the decision to swap Norris and Piastri around meant that the British driver effectively lost the chance of an extra seven points in the battle for the drivers title against Max Verstappen.
Although the Dutch driver has a big lead in the points over Norris, such calls are the kind of thing that can ultimately decide the outcome and who gets the title at the end of the year. Many felt that McLaren had made the wrong call this time.
But Piastri - who claimed his maiden F1 Grand Prix victory in Budapest whewn Norris finally complied with the team's directive - felt that it demonstrated where McLaren's true priorities lay going into the summer break.
"The first objective is to win the constructors title for the team and I think we've got a very strong chance of doing that," the Australian said after coming second in the Belgian GP last week.
“We've been closing the gap to Red Bull in the last six or seven races," he added. "The first target is to win the constructors' - and to try and do a good job for myself as well.
"Of course I'd like to finish as high [in the the drivers standings] as I can," he acknowledged. "I'm not not out of the running for the championship myself, although it's a very big ask.
"But I want to string together good races, build consistency on that front, and really help the team to win the constructors," he offered. “If it comes to a situation where I need to help Lando later in the year then of course it's something we'll discuss."
McLaren CEO Zak Brown insisted that the team hasn't downgraded their drivers championship aspirations to focus on the team prize and that both titles were still very much in play heading into the second half of the season.
"They are both priorities," Brown stated emphatically. "The closer we get to the drivers', the closer that'll get us to the constructors', so we're going for both because all points count.
"Ultimately, to win the constructors we need our two drivers to be as high up as possible. I'd like to see both drivers in the top three. We got second and fourth [in Spa].
"To be competing for the drivers and constructors championships is a pretty cool place to be coming into the summer break," he said. It's going to be an exciting second part of the year.
"I'm very happy with everything that's been accomplished here at McLaren," Brown added.
“I guess the next big occasion for us would be trying to go for the championship. It's certainly a nice feeling. The drivers, the team and everyone has done a wonderful job to get ten podiums in a row. It's pretty awesome.
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