Should McLaren Prioritize Norris over Piastri in the Championship Fight?
The recent disqualification of McLaren in the Las Vegas Grand Prix, along with the growing threat from Max Verstappen, has reignited a crucial debate for the team: Is it time to prioritize one driver over another in the pursuit of the title? Verstappen’s victory in Las Vegas, initially seen as another step towards the championship, became a turning point with the technical sanction imposed on McLaren. This situation evokes the ghost of 2007, when the internal struggle between McLaren drivers, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, allowed Kimi Räikkönen to win the championship. Lando Norris arrives at the Qatar Grand Prix, a weekend with a sprint format and 33 points at stake, with a 24-point lead over Verstappen and his teammate, Oscar Piastri. Norris could secure the title by finishing third in the remaining three races: the Qatar sprint race, the main race on Sunday, and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. However, the presence of Verstappen, four-time champion, suggests that the path will not be easy. The events in Las Vegas have raised a key question: Is it time to favor Norris to ensure that a McLaren driver wins the 2025 championship? The answer is not simple.A Balanced Approach
McLaren’s decision to allow its drivers to compete freely has been key in the current fight. The team has won 13 races, with seven victories for Norris and six for Piastri, while Red Bull’s six victories have been for Verstappen.Brown prefers to avoid repeating the 2007 situation, where the rivalry between Alonso and Hamilton allowed another driver to win the championship. Brown and team director Andrea Stella’s approach is based on Stella’s experience at Ferrari, where he saw how team orders could create a toxic environment.“We are playing offense, not defense,” stated McLaren CEO Zak Brown. “I’d rather we say, ‘We did the best we could and our drivers tied in points and the other beat us by one,’ than the alternative, which is to tell one of our drivers now, when they are one point away, ‘I know you have the dream of winning the world championship, but we flipped a coin and you can’t do it this year.”
Zak Brown
Could McLaren have avoided this situation?
McLaren couldn’t foresee Red Bull’s improvement or the technical infringement in Las Vegas. Implementing team orders is a sensitive issue. If McLaren had favored Piastri after Norris’s failure in the Dutch Grand Prix, they might regret it now, given the fluctuating performance of the Australian driver. Brown’s approach is further justified if one considers that both drivers are seeking their first championship. McLaren has chosen to give both drivers the opportunity to fight for the title, a strategy that, so far, has proven effective. McLaren’s management at this crucial moment could determine the final outcome of the championship. The possibility of Verstappen getting even closer in Abu Dhabi is a risk that the team must consider carefully.
