McLaren under fire as Norris-Piastri title fight raises questions over fairness

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McLaren are facing mounting criticism over how they’re managing the title race between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

Piastri heads to the Singapore Grand Prix with a 25-point lead, although that margin shrank in Baku, where an early crash ended his race while Norris finished down in seventh.

That poor performance followed controversy in Monza, where a slow pit stop dropped Norris behind Piastri, only for team orders to put the Brit back ahead.

The move sparked backlash from fans and pundits alike, with many convinced that McLaren are now openly favouring Norris in the championship fight. The perception isn’t helped by the fact that this isn’t an isolated incident.

McLaren have always said their drivers are free to compete without interference. But decisions like these suggest otherwise. It’s worth remembering what happened back in Budapest when different strategies played a big role in how things unfolded.

Although that call was circumstantial because of Norris’ poor start, Stella’s overall approach could end up creating more problems if he doesn’t strike the right balance between his two drivers.

Fallows warns against secrecy between McLaren drivers and race engineers

Stella has been clear that there won’t be a ban on differing strategies for Norris and Piastri. Instead, both drivers and their engineers will have the freedom to decide how they want to approach each race.

But former Red Bull and Aston Martin engineer Dan Fallows has raised concerns in his column for RaceTeq. He pointed out that such an approach could lead teams into ‘dangerous territory,’ noting that race engineers, much like drivers, are highly competitive. When information is withheld between sides of the garage, it can erode trust within the team.

“If one side of the garage hits a sweet spot or makes an obvious gain, that will usually come to light in the debrief meeting and the other car can adopt it if they think it will also help them.

“I have heard of teams where this doesn’t always happen, however. Race engineers are every bit as competitive as the rest of the team and giving their car a material advantage over the other one can be useful in proving their superiority.”

“Drivers can easily be involved in this as well, sometimes deliberately downplaying the effect of some key change in order to avoid, or at least delay, their teammate getting wind of it.”

“In extreme cases, this kind of gamesmanship can become quite overt and start to eat away at the trust inside a team.”

Why McLaren need to rethink Norris-Piastri strategy freedom to avoid internal issues

Simply put, Stella and McLaren need to rethink this approach. There’s already enough scrutiny on how they’re handling the title fight, and adding more tension between Norris and Piastri is the last thing they need.

Piastri was visibly frustrated after his early exit in Baku, a moment Juan Pablo Montoya picked up on. The pressure of holding off Norris in the title fight appears to be getting to him, especially after decisions in Budapest and Monza seemed to favour his teammate.

Max Verstappen could also be back in the picture after his wins in Monza and Baku. Helmut Marko has suggested Verstappen is making McLaren nervous, and any growing tension between their drivers might only play into Red Bull’s hands.

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Piastri hasn’t done enough yet for McLaren to shift focus away from Norris, but it’s on them to make sure both drivers feel like they’ve got an equal shot – something they keep saying publicly.