LUSAIL – Lando Norris ignored team orders to hand his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri victory in the Qatar Grand Prix sprint race on Saturday.

As McLaren considers its first Formula 1 constructors’ title in 26 years and George Russell close behind for Mercedes, the team on the radio told Norris to “finish in that order”, ahead of Piastri.

He still chose to give victory to his teammate, easing to the right coming out of the final corner, then coming back in front of Russell, who finished third.

“The team told me not to do it, but I thought I could get through it and we did,” Norris said. “Honestly, it doesn’t bother me. I’m not here to win sprint races. I’m here to win races and the championship, but it didn’t go as planned.”

Norris reimbursed Piastri for do the same thing in the sprint race in Brazil while Norris was still fighting Max Verstappen for the drivers’ title.

“I made my decision in Brazil when it happened,” Norris said. “I had to do something to return it.”

Piastri said he didn’t expect Norris to take that risk.

“I was aware that this could happen. I was a little surprised that with George half a second (away), that was the case,” Piastri said. “It just shows our teamwork and the lack of ego within of the team.”

It continues a season where McLaren’s racing tactics have often been a topic of discussion, such as when Norris and Piastri swapped the lead in Hungary after a lengthy and often awkward radio exchange with the team.

On Saturday, Norris started on pole position and held the lead at the start as Piastri passed Russell for second. As Russell repeatedly attacked Piastri for second, Norris fell back instead of building a lead. This put Piastri a second behind Norris, allowing the Australian to use the DRS overtaking assist for more speed.

Russell said he found the McLaren team’s work “quite exasperating” while stuck behind Piastri and also objected to what he saw as late moves by Piastri to defend the position.

McLaren increased its lead over Ferrari in the constructors’ championship to 30 points as Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr. finished fourth and Charles Leclerc fifth.

Teams can earn a maximum of 88 additional points at Sunday’s Qatar Grand Prix and next week’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Red Bull fell to 67 points behind McLaren in the standings as Verstappen — crowned drivers’ champion for the fourth time last week in Las Vegas — finished eighth and his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez was last after a pit stop to change the nose of his car.

Qualifying will take place later on Saturday for Sunday’s Grand Prix race.

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AP Auto Racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing