Piastri to prioritise Championship hopes ahead of final GP

Approaching the final weekend, Oscar Piastri was faced with the potential of handing over his Championship chances to better the opportunity of his teammate.

Entering Abu Dhabi 12 points behind McLaren teammate and Championship leader Lando Norris, Piastri was brought into a meeting with McLaren to discuss potential tactics to assist Norris’ chance of securing his maiden title.

Given four-time Champion Max Verstappen has charged into contention over the latter stages of the season, the team would certainly benefit from prioritising a singular contender to nullify the Red Bull's hopes.

However, given the tight nature of the final Grand Prix, any concession to Norris would rule Piastri out of a potential triumph, despite remaining well and truly in the hunt.

Qualifying in third place certainly wouldn’t have benefitted his chances, particularly given Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took pole at a race that has seen pole position go on to win in all of the last 10 races.

However, following his qualifying efforts, Piastri has committed to his own best interests, stating that he would ensure he gives himself the best opportunity to win over the course of the season finale.

“I don’t know what exactly is expected of me yet,” Piastri said post-qualifying.

“Until either Lando or Max cross the line in front of me, I’ve still got a chance of winning the title.

“We’ll see how the race pans out.”

McLaren chief Zak Brown has been persistent with his 'papaya rules', refusing to publicly prioritise either of their drivers over the course of the season. However, it has been widely suggested that decision making orchestrated by senior chiefs at McLaren have often favoured Lando Norris.

Responding to these claims - including that made by Australian Senator Matt Canavan - Brown has denied any intentional wrongdoing.

“I think we’ve done the best we can," Brown told Sky Sports.

“I think Oscar himself has talked about how fair and equitable when we make mistakes, but I think Oscar has been our number one spokesperson. He’s never said a single word that anything has ever not felt right.

“I saw with the Australian, I think it was the senator said and clearly he’s very uninformed and uneducated about our sport. But I think that’s the cool thing about sport, people get very supportive of their heroes of their countries.

“I’m not surprised to see people waving the flag for their drivers. It is most important to us that our team knows, and there are a lot of uneducated people out there and their views and I’d spend all day trying to correct them. So it is what it is.”

Finishing behind either of Norris or Verstappen immediately rules Piastri out of the Championship race. Entering the final weekend 16 points behind teammate Lando and four points behind Verstappen, Piastri must win at Abu Dhabi and Lando must slip to sixth or lower in order to reclaim his spot atop the leaderboard.

The Drivers' Championship Leaderboard is as follows prior to Abu Dhabi:

1. Lando Norris (McLaren) - 408 Points
2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) - 396 Points
3. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) - 392 Points

With a maximum of 25 points on offer, Piastri enters as the third and final driver that can claim Championship glory, with the race set to jump on Monday at 12:00am AEDT.