The two McLaren drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris are engaged in an intense battle for their first Formula 1 World Championship title. Ahead of this weekend’s US Grand Prix at the Circuit of The Americas in Austin, just 22 points separate the two, with Piastri the one leading the championship.
The “Papaya philosophy”, which McLaren has been following since the start of the season, came under fire for the first time in Singapore two weeks ago. The team has now worked through the collision between Norris and Piastri on the first lap.
On Thursday in Austin we heard from Norris that there were consequences for himself. The current World Cup runner-up did not comment in more detail on what exactly these were or are. And McLaren team boss Andrea Stella also contributed little to the clarification with his comments.
McLaren constellation “doomed to fail”
Martin Brundle, ex-Formula 1 driver and current TV expert on “Sky”, describes his perspective on the McLaren title duel in Austin on Friday: “There is a title to be won. McLaren has a fantastic car, and Max [Verstappen] appears in the rearview mirror pretty quickly.”
“You have two extremely competitive athletes working in a team environment. That will always go wrong. The only question is how you deal with it,” said Brundle, who is convinced: “This constellation is doomed to failure in many ways.”
Norris penalty: This is how McLaren could regulate it
Asked what the consequences might be for Norris after the Singapore maneuver against Piastri, Brundle replied: “It is clear that whatever they do will remain within the team and will have no impact on the team’s overall performance against others.”
And the TV expert also has a very specific guess as to what that might look like. “If we were in a development race, then, for example, Oscar would get the new parts first. Or if it goes to a track where you need a slipstream in qualifying, then you would give Oscar priority. It will be some sort of internal team thing that other teams can’t benefit from.”
“It’s a little strange”
Jenson Button, Formula 1 world champion from 2009, told Sky: “We all love a good World Championship fight. When it comes to performance, they both give it their all and go all out. That’s great to see. But if the team gets involved in how hard you can push your teammate, then of course things get complicated, especially internally.”
Video: Expert: US GP made for the next McLaren crash
“It’s a little strange because I think what McLaren is doing is actually very good for the sport,” adds Brundle, referring to McLaren’s rule of not driving into each other’s cars. “You can drive freely from the start to the checkered flag, with a single condition: you must not collide with each other.”
“If it hadn’t been Piastri who [in Singapur] If he had been next to him, the team would have cheered Lando for the first few corners. “He actually drove it brilliantly, he just happened to touch his teammate,” said Brundle.