McLaren F1 team criticised over 'narcissistic sociopath' decisions

zak brown, oscar piastri, lando norris, david coulthard, mclaren, 2024 — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 News & Gossip

McLaren criticised over 'narcissistic sociopath' decisions

Former Ferrari engineer Rob Smedley had some strong feelings over team orders

By Kerry Violet.

Monday 20 January 2025 16:00

McLaren have been criticised for their radio communications after some controversial decisions in the 2024 Formula 1 title race.

The historic team won their first constructors' title of the 21st century, but it was their attempts to secure a drivers' title for Lando Norris which caught the eye.

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2024 saw McLaren duo Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri enter into their second year as team-mates, with the papaya outfit having opted to keep their stellar pairing unchanged until at least the end of 2026.

At the start of the season, neither Norris nor Piastri had claimed their maiden grand prix win, but their running total of six wins between them now is what handed the team the constructors' trophy.

Oscar Piastri's maiden GP win in Hungary was shrouded by team order controversy

McLaren principal Andrea Stella faced constant questioning over the team's 'papaya rules'

Smedley issues bold F1 team orders verdict

The 51-year-old has now taken a step back from F1, but previously worked for Jordan, Williams and most notably, acted as race engineer for Felipe Massa whilst at Ferrari.

Smedley's partnership with Massa began midseason in 2006 and continued until 2013, seeing Massa through to the end of his campaign with the Scuderia, achieving marked success.

During his time with Ferrari however, Smedley experienced his own team orders debacle, where Ferrari were fined $100,000 for breaching regulations at the 2010 German Grand Prix.

Rob Smedley was previously Felipe Massa's engineer at Ferrari

"Look, Andrea’s an ex-colleague, a friend of mine, so I don’t want to talk specifically about McLaren but what I would say is there is in general in Formula 1 now, there’s too much pussy-footing around."

"The way the radio messages go to the driver you know, I don’t watch every single race but the races I watch I’m like oh f***ing grow a pair man, just tell him what you need to tell him!"

"You give any narcissistic sociopath an inch and they’ll take a yard right? So don’t give them that inch to start with."

McLaren Lando Norris F1 Oscar Piastri