McLaren Will Favour Oscar Piastri Over Lando Norris Due to 'Internal Decision', Says Ex-F1 Driver Ahead of Austrian GP 2025

Formula 1 next heads back to Europe for the Austrian GP 2025 and all eyes will be on the McLaren F1 team as their two drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris are currently the favourites to duke it out for the F1 world driver's championship in this season. However, while the team has previously stated that the two are free to race each other, things may change after their crash during the Canadian GP. 

Indeed, that is the belief of one former Formula 1 driver as he believes that McLaren have already decided that they will focus more on one driver than the other going forward. 

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McLaren Set to Fully Back Piastri?

Ralf Schumacher, the younger brother of Michael and a six-time F1 race winner in his own right, said that the team have made an internal decision to focus on Piastri's world championship bid. 

"I believe that it is now internally decided that Piastri is the man the team will focus on in terms of the world championship. Lando shows too many weaknesses and makes too many mistakes, including his senseless driving into the back of Oscar in Canada," Schumacher told Sky Germany.

If that is the case, it would be a huge blow to Norris' title bid as this is arguably the first time in his career that he has been in the thick of a title fight since the start of the season. In 2024, the McLaren became more competitive as the season wore on. 

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Can McLaren Change Previous Stance? 

But it is also worth noting that the team have publicly made no comments on the situation and have always been at pains to stress that they look to treat both drivers equally. 

Yet in most cases, a driver will support his teammate's bid for the world title if they are much further behind in the points standings, like Piastri did for Norris in the second half of 2024. 

However, it is also worth noting that the McLaren is so fast in 2025 that it is a straight shootout between their two drivers for the title, which means the two might be given more leeway for the next few races still.