Martin Brundle urges McLaren to risk "nuclear fallout" with team orders in Abu Dhabi GP

Martin Brundle believes McLaren must be prepared to use team orders in Abu Dhabi

Former Formula 1 driver and Sky Sports analyst Martin Brundle argued that McLaren is "damned if they do, damned if they don't" in terms of changing its approach to team orders for the season finale.

Heading into the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Lando Norris leads the drivers' championship standings with 12 points over Red Bull's Max Verstappen in second. Norris's McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri is also still within reach of the championship trophy as he sits four points behind Verstappen in third.

McLaren's approach to managing its drivers has come under a lot of scrutiny this year, as it has given both of them an equal opportunity to fight with the proviso that they do not crash into one another.

Brundle has argued that the Woking outfit would be better off dealing with the "nuclear fallout of moving cars around" than losing the drivers' championship.

“They are damned if they do, damned if they don’t in some respects. I’m pretty sure they’d rather handle the nuclear fallout of moving their cars around. It’s a team," Brundle told Sky Sports F1.

"They spend £400million a year running two racing cars representing 1,000 people back at base, and they won the constructors’ [championship], and they want to win the drivers’ [championship]. What they don’t want to do is let Max Verstappen win the championship.

"So of course, if it’s in the closing stages and, for example, Oscar Piastri, for the sake of dropping down the order because he can’t win the championship, I would certainly be asking the same thing. Let’s assume Oscar would actually do that, should he be asked to do so.

Martin Brundle

Photo by: James Sutton / Motorsport Images

“Let’s imagine it was Max Verstappen winning and Oscar second and George Russell third and Lando fourth. Would they ask Oscar to give a podium up and drop back to fourth to allow Lando to win the title? I’m pretty sure they will."

The former driver added: "It has been a horror movie for McLaren with the disqualification in Las Vegas and then the tactical error in Qatar.

"All the points count for all the whole season. They are equal in status. If you look back at some of the spectacular victories we have seen from all three drivers this season, I believe they would all be worthy world champions.

"It's going to be great. It's like a movie script! All to play for. Lando has less to do. We have a standard weekend, no sprint, no cap on tyres. It only needs a bit of contact, reliability, for any of the three of them, and it will turn on its head."

McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown confirmed ahead of the first practice session in Abu Dhabi that the team would consider enforcing team orders if it became clear that one was no longer in the running.