Piastri and Norris, free to fight for the title in Abu Dhabi, according to McLaren
McLaren team boss Andrea Stella has confirmed that Oscar Piastri will be free to compete with teammate Lando Norris for the title in the final race in Abu Dhabi, despite the threat of Max Verstappen. Piastri dropped to third place in the standings behind Verstappen at the Qatar Grand Prix after McLaren made a mistake in their race strategy, costing the Australian the chance to win the race. Norris, who leads the championship, now has a 12-point lead over Verstappen and a 16-point difference over Piastri, with a maximum of 25 points at stake in Abu Dhabi. McLaren has tried to offer the same opportunities to its drivers throughout the 2025 season, and Stella stated that Verstappen’s presence in the fight for the title would not change that approach.Stella also mentioned that the last two times there were more than two drivers in the fight for the title in the last race (in 2007 and 2010), the driver who was in third place before the last race emerged as champion.When it comes to having two drivers in the hunt for the World Championship, our philosophy and our approach will not change. We will let Oscar and Lando have the possibility to compete and pursue their aspirations.
Andrea Stella
Stella indicated that he and the drivers will discuss scenarios in which it might make sense for one driver to help the other during the race. One of those possibilities would be if Verstappen were winning towards the end of the race, while Piastri would be in third place and Norris in fourth. In that case, Verstappen would beat both McLaren drivers if the positions remained the same, but Norris would be crowned champion if Piastri gave him third place. Stella said that all parties would have to agree beforehand before an order was executed in the race.Oscar, from a points perspective, is definitely in a position to win the title. We’ve seen before in Formula One history that when you have this type of situation, sometimes it’s the third one who actually wins. We will let the drivers be in a position to race each other. The important thing for us is that we are in a position to beat Verstappen with one of our two drivers.
Andrea Stella
Stella also added that there will be more conversations between Lando and Oscar before the Abu Dhabi race. The team will confirm its career approach, but Stella assured that if any of the drivers are in a position to win the title, it will be respected.I believe that any decision we make in terms of using the collaboration of our drivers, we will have to follow some of our fundamental principles, which are fundamental to our approach. We want to be fair to our drivers, we want to race with integrity, and we want to race in a way that doesn’t surprise our drivers.
Andrea Stella
