As the 2025 Formula 1 season enters the summer break, McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are locked in an intense battle, each vying to clinch the title.
After back-to-back wins in Austria and Britain, Norris failed to catch Piastri at the Belgian Grand Prix despite starting on pole position, and as we approach the Hungarian Grand Prix this weekend, things could come to a climax after last year’s tumultuous trip to the Hungaroring .
Fans will remember the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix, where Oscar Piastri claimed his maiden win after a bitter team orders call from the pitwall, where the infamous ‘Papaya Rules’ reared its head for the first time. Despite leading the race, a botched strategy call from the team saw Lando Norris take the lead, and when asked to swap positions through no fault of his own, Norris did not hide his frustration, engaging in a tense standoff with his engineer, Will Joseph, who urged the British driver to slow down and let Piastri through.
Norris eventually let Piastri through, but there was no hiding his feelings as he avoided Piastri on the podium. Since then, while it has remained friendly and professional between the two drivers, with Norris even sacrificing a sprint win in Brazil, there was outrage from fans as McLaren appeared to poorly manage team orders between the drivers.
There have been claims that McLaren’s inability to prioritise Norris across the end of the 2024 season cost him a chance at the title, which was won by Max Verstappen for the fourth year in a row. Instead, the Woking-based team opted to let their drivers race.
Now, with both drivers in their prime, a streak of wins for Piastri – the current leader of the Drivers World Championship – and only 16 points between them, how will McLaren manage the issues that may arise going forward?
The Rivalries That Came Before Them
Mark Webber, former Red Bull Racing driver, has managed Piastri for many years. He famously clashed with teammate Sebastian Vettel in a tense rivalry that produced some of F1’s most iconic moments — “Multi-21, Seb” still gets mentioned to this day. Another Webber line that seems particularly fitting for Norris and Piastri has to be “not so bad for a second driver”, due to allegations that Piastri has a clause in his contract that prevents him from taking on the role of ‘second driver’, less prioritised by the team.
Piastri has more than proven himself, winning eight races since his F1 debut — matching Norris’s tally. There has been no lack of competition between the two drivers, who have stood on the podium together seven times. Piastri and Norris have appeared friendly since the Australian joined the team, but that could mean very little as the pressure piles on across the next few races.
We have seen close friendships decimated by the tension of a championship battle. The most notable, of course, is the close friendship between Sir Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg when the pair drove for Mercedes. The drivers were childhood best friends, until the 2016 title fight won by Rosberg damaged their relationship. Things remain frosty between Hamilton, now at Ferrari, and Rosberg, who is often a commentator and pundit for Sky Sports. Whilst Piastri and Norris are still friendly, there have been rumours that they have retreated slightly into their own camps as the battle heats up.
‘Papaya Rules’?
McLaren have previously frustrated fans with their strategy calls, and there are concerns about how the team will manage having two ‘number one’ drivers towards the end of the season.
The term ‘Papaya Rules’ became a contentious point for fans of the team last season, even surfacing as an internet meme when viewers believed McLaren were mishandling strategy.
Zak Brown, McLaren’s CEO, has openly supported letting the drivers race and consistently promotes equal treatment for both. Therefore, if the drivers stay close on points, at what point does the team prioritise one over the other? And how will they keep morale high if they allow this fight to go down to the wire in Abu Dhabi?
This becomes an even more complicated factor when considering who will get upgrades first, as teams continue to develop their cars. With Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari – their closest rivals in the Constructors Championship – bring significant upgrade packages to races, McLaren will have to ensure that they can maintain their dominance.
Media Pressure Mounts
Formula 1 teams are no stranger to media scrutiny, and McLaren’s team dynamic has been no exception.
Critics targeted the team last season for failing to prioritise Norris, and they recently criticised Norris’s performance in Belgium, where he made several mistakes and failed to close the gap to Piastri. Critics also called out Piastri after the British Grand Prix for asking the team to swap driver positions after a penalty put him behind his teammate. Piastri showed clear frustration with the race outcome and said nothing about his teammate’s first home victory — a reaction that angered fans.
Martin Brundle, former F1 driver and pundit for Sky Sports F1, has also weighed in on the situation at McLaren.
In an article for Sky Sports F1, he wrote:
“When all the stars align, I believe Lando is marginally the faster, but Oscar is more consistent, makes fewer errors, and is more clinical in combat.
“His head is always rock solid. He’ll take some beating in the closing stages now. Lando will need absolutely all he’s got, all the time, to win this.”
The Future of the Lando Norris vs Oscar Piastri Battle
It’s unclear what the future holds for the McLaren drivers, who are currently on multi-year contracts with the team. Norris holds a contract until the end of 2026, with a potential extension keeping him at McLaren through 2027. Piastri, who signed another multi-year deal in March 2025, is expected to remain with the team until 2028.
This title fight could spark friction in future contract talks. In Formula 1, teams and drivers have repeatedly shown that contracts often hold little weight in the bigger picture. After a dramatic exit from Alpine, Piastri has made it clear he won’t let anything — or anyone — stand in the way of opportunity.
As Zak Brown labels the rest of the season a “coin toss”, who will come out on top?
Feature Image Credit: McLaren