F1: McLaren to assess how they deploy car upgrades as Piastri chases down Norris for title

McLaren will be forced to decide on a season strategy, with the team to assess how they implement vehicle upgrades as Oscar Piastri piles the pressure on teammate Lando Norris.

McLaren will assess how it deploys upgrades to its cars with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris looking set to duke it out for the world title.

In previous seasons, McLaren has rushed upgrades onto one of its cars to gain the initial boost the moment the components were ready.

In the races that followed, and a second set of parts became available, they found their way onto the other car.

That has typically seen Norris receive the benefits ahead of Piastri.

This year, McLaren has proved the team to beat after four races and its drivers are split by three points at the top of the drivers’ championship.

Both have taken wins already this season, Norris in Australia and Piastri in both China and last weekend in Bahrain.

Those performances have rocketed the team to a comfortable position atop the constructors’ championship standings, but it’s far closer in the drivers’ competition.

Oscar Piastri is chasing down Lando Norris. Picture: Clive Rose/Getty Images

Norris leads the title fight but is only three points clear of Piastri, who is, in turn, only five points ahead of Max Verstappen, with George Russell just six further back.

But while it’s likely those gaps will increase as the season wears on, the comparative similarity in performance between McLaren’s two pilots poses the team a problem.

Where before it could rush developments onto one car, continuing that approach now has the potential to impact the drivers’ championship, not to mention harmony within the team.

“We will have to see,” team principal Andrea Stella said when asked how McLaren will roll out upgrades given its current position.

“We will have to see, first of all, what is actually the upgrade.

“If the upgrade is a front wing, a rear wing, you don’t necessarily have to split cars because it’s less of an involved change.

“The reason why we were going one car at a time in the past is because it was a big change which had involved even changes of the mechanical side, the systems under the bodywork.”

McLaren will be faced with an uncomfortable decision. Picture: Clive Mason/Getty Images

While McLaren is yet to introduce any significant upgrades in 2025, there are changes in the pipeline.

Stella wouldn’t be drawn on exactly when the first of those will be ready but confessed there has already been thought go into how it is deployed.

“We have an idea,” he confessed.

“We are working in the background and we are just about to pull the trigger in terms of delivery of the next upgrades.

“They will come in a few races, not in the short term.”

Equality and fairness between drivers are paramount considerations for McLaren, with the caveat that the team’s interests come first.

Last year, Piastri moved aside for Norris to help the Brit’s title chances late in the season, a favour that was returned once the championship was out of reach.

At this year’s Japanese Grand Prix, Piastri called for Norris to be moved aside so he could attack Verstappen in the closing stages, a request that was ignored.

Stella rationalised that choice by arguing there was no clear benefit in having Piastri attack Verstappen in place of Norris, and was unwilling to risk the points the team was on for with its drivers second and third.

McLaren’s current car advantage is also a consideration.

Should that continue, it’s likely the title fight will come down to Norris versus Piastri, putting the team in a difficult position where any new developments might favour one driver or another.

If that pace advantage is enough, the squad may be able to hold off deploying the upgrades until there are enough for both sides of the garage.

But should the pack close in, it places McLaren in a delicate position where it may need the instant performance boost, even if on just one car.

“It will also depend on how we are doing from a performance point of view,” Stella said.

“If the car keeps being such a strong car then we might have to take a more considerate approach and make sure that we are not creating any imbalance in relation to the fairness with drivers.”

It adds another layer of complexity to the challenge of managing two race-winning drivers in a car that has shown itself capable of winning the championship.

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Originally published as F1: McLaren to assess how they deploy car upgrades as Piastri chases down Norris for title