McLaren shut down Oscar Piastri team orders theory for F1 season finale
A troubling theory has been floated for F1’s season-ending showdown and it looks set to leave Oscar Piastri once again feeling let down.
McLaren’s papaya rules may come back to haunt them, as the team’s bosses remain adamant they will not favour Lando Norris over Oscar Piastri to help him secure the championship in next weekend’s F1 season finale.
Norris could have wrapped up the drivers’ championship this weekend in Qatar but instead only managed third in the sprint and fourth in the main race — meaning the three-way title race will be decided in Abu Dhabi.
Max Verstappen overtook Norris at the start of the Qatar Grand Prix and won the race thanks to Red Bull’s wise decision to pit him during a safety car period on lap 7.
McLaren opted not to pit either driver, seemingly flying in the face of getting a logical, cheap pit stop done early given two pit stops were mandated by the FIA in Qatar.
Norris heads into the 24th and final race of the season in Abu Dhabi on 408 points, 12 ahead of Verstappen on 396 and 16 ahead of Piastri on 392. All three drivers have won seven races each this season and it all comes down to the last race of the season.
It was a strong weekend for Piastri who claimed eight points for winning the sprint race, took pole position and looked set to win the Qatar Grand Prix, only for a strategy blunder to deny him what should have been a straightforward victory.
By finishing second instead of first, it also robbed him of seven points that would have seen him trailing Norris by just nine points heading to Abu Dhabi.
As it stands, Verstappen can win the title if he wins in Abu Dhabi and Norris comes fourth — if Norris finishes on the podium he’ll have done enough to claim his maiden drivers’ championship.
To become champion, Piastri needs to win the race and for Norris to DNF, or finish sixth or lower.
It’s an unlikely scenario and explains why the 24-year-old Aussie was so gutted to miss out on the win in Qatar that would have put him right back in the hunt in Abu Dhabi.
It’s worth mentioning Norris would have the world championship in the bag already if both McLaren drivers hadn’t been disqualified from the Las Vegas Grand Prix for skid wear — he’d have a 30-point lead heading to Abu Dhabi without the DQ.
McLaren’s firm stance around not disadvantaging either driver appeared to play a part in their decision not to pit at least one of Norris or Piastri during the safety car period — splitting the strategy may have put one driver in a better position than the other.
Pitting both drivers at the same time, known as ‘double stacking’, was an option but team McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said it would have held Norris up in the pits and they didn’t want to do that.
Qatar’s strategy bungle shows McLaren are now so conscious of not disadvantaging either driver that the pit wall is frozen by indecision and left ruing missed opportunities when their drivers are in a strong position.
Zak trying to hug Oscar lmao ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ pic.twitter.com/NRU2LJPPJo
— saturn | زØÙ„ 🪠dms restricted (again) (@osclanders) November 28, 2025
While Red Bull strategy mastermind Hannah Schmitz always makes the right call to give Verstappen the best shot at victory, McLaren’s crew on the pit wall were left looking red-faced, later admitting they “got it wrong”.
As Martin Brundle said on Sky Sports: “McLaren have two against one but actually that cost them tonight in a way because Red Bull had total freedom without a second car to think about.”
But in a do-dor-die race next weekend, the big question is: Should McLaren favour Norris at all costs in Abu Dhabi to help him secure the drivers’ championship?
It’s difficult for McLaren to manipulate qualifying and who gets pole position, but if there’s a situation in the race in Abu Dhabi where Piastri finds himself driving in front of Verstappen, it wouldn’t be a surprise to hear McLaren mention on radio that it would be handy for Norris if Piastri doesn’t let the Red Bull champion past him, or request that he slows him up.
Norris leads the standings and realistically Piastri is an extremely slim chance of winning the title now.
Picture this in Abu Dhabi…
— Matt Gallagher (@MattP1Gallagher) November 30, 2025
VER
PIA
RUS
NOR
Do you think McLaren tell Oscar to slow down to give Lando the title?
Does he agree?
if mclaren radios in for team orders in abu dhabi, i hope oscar takes his teammate out
— riri (@oopspiastri) November 30, 2025
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella was asked post-race in Qatar if the team would change its stance and favour one driver for the final race of the season, but he was adamant they would give both Norris and Piastri a shot at the win.
“In terms of adapting the way we go racing, we just want to always keep options for both drivers,” Stella said.
“They are both in condition to win the championship. There’s often been a situation where the third driver wins the championship. I remember 2007 with Kimi Raikkonen, the same in 2010 with Sebastian Vettel.
“We have to respect Oscar has his chance to win and we will let them race.”
It’s been speculated Piastri has a clause in his contract that states he would never be treated as a No. 2 driver as long as he is a mathematical chance of winning the drivers’ championship, so it’s unlikely he’ll be used as a sacrificial lamb.
McLaren clinched the constructors’ championship with six races remaining and should really have wrapped up the drivers’ title by now.
But after being 104 points adrift of the lead earlier in the season, the drivers’ championship is somehow still up for grabs and Verstappen is well and truly in with a shot.
The Dutchman has won the past two races and is now just 12 points behind Norris and a genuine chance of winning his fifth, and most unlikely, title yet.
Earlier this year, McLaren CEO Zak Brown said he would rather Verstappen win the title than have one of his drivers win the championship on the back of team favouritism.
“I want to make sure if we don’t win, he beats us. We don’t beat ourselves,” Brown said in November.
“We’re well aware of 2007 — two drivers tied on points, one gets in the front.
“We’ve got two drivers who want to win the world championship.
“I’d rather, ‘We did the best we can and our drivers tied on points and the other guy beat us by one’. than the alternative, which is telling one of our drivers, when they’re one point away from each other, ‘I know you have a dream to win the world championship but we’ve flipped a coin and you don’t get to do it’.
“Forget it. That’s not how we go racing. The best way to win the drivers’ championship is to have two drivers going for the drivers’ championship.
“In the event 2007 happens again, I’d rather have that outcome than all the other outcomes by playing favourites. We won’t do it. We’re racers, we’re going racing.”
Those comments may come back to haunt Brown, who faces the unthinkable prospect of losing the drivers’ championship to a rival while being 340 points ahead of the next best team.
Verstappen winning the title would be completely embarrassing for McLaren who risk making a generational fumble and losing the unlosable championship given their car has been the fastest on average across this season.
The fact McLaren’s bosses are referencing the 2007 and 2010 seasons isn’t a great sign — Kimi Raikkonen came from the clouds to win by one point in 2007 and Sebastian Vettel came back to beat the likes of Mark Webber, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.
Does McLaren favour Lando Norris over Oscar Piastri?
McLaren’s “papaya rules” have angered F1 fans at times this year, with McLaren insisting their drivers are free to race each other with an approach championing equality and fairness that has caused the team some grief.
The team says it simply means the teammates should never crash into each other, but it’s easy to see why many believe McLaren favours Norris.
At the Italian Grand Prix, Piastri was told to swap places with Norris after the Brit copped a slow pit stop — it was the most clear example of McLaren favouring Norris.
Piastri was understandably fuming at the Singapore Grand Prix when Norris bumped into him at the start and overtook him, only for the Aussie to be told it was fair racing and to suck it up.
Is being Aussie hurting Oscar Piastri’s chances?
Of course not, McLaren have never said they would prefer Norris to win the title over Piastri and they never will. But they don’t have to.
The contrast in Zak Brown’s body language after a Norris victory compared to a Piastri win says it all — and one side of the McLaren garage wasn’t thrilled Piastri took pole position for the Qatar sprint race.
Norris has spent his entire career with McLaren since debuting in 2019, and it would be a dream come true for a homegrown talent to win the title.
He’s in his seventh season and with his 151st race in Qatar, has now took part in the most F1 races by any McLaren driver in history.
McLaren was founded by a Kiwi but the team is based in Woking, England and has a largely British identity and fanbase — which would be delighted to see Norris triumph.
Former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone said last month: “When the season started, I thought our Australian driver would be world champion. I thought he would win easily but something’s holding him back.
“I don’t know what it is. I don’t know if it’s McLaren holding him back or what. There was a bit of a problem inside the team I understand where it looked very much they were favouring the British driver.”
An Australian hasn’t won the F1 title since Alan Jones in 1980 and while Piastri has come close this season, he might have to wait another year to break that drought.
F1 trend proof Piastri may be doomed at McLaren
Formula One is littered with examples of superstar teammates battling each other for the championship and it usually doesn't end well.
Some of most successful drivers in history have been the clear No. 1 drivers at their team (Michael Schumacher at Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes, Max Verstappen at Red Bull).
It generally helps them because there is no confusion about who is the top dog in the garage and who should be prioritised in strategy decisions.
Mark Webber, who is now Piastri’s manager, came close to winning a title with Red Bull only to be pipped by Sebastian Vettel — the Aussie repeatedly expressed his frustration about being a No. 2 driver.
Nico Rosberg immediately retired after beating Lewis Hamilton to the 2016 title — they were childhood friends but the tension in the Mercedes garage soured their relationship.
And who could forget Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost crashing into each other as they battled for titles at McLaren during in the late 80s. the 80s and 90s.
Having two star drivers on equal terms at the same team is very rare in F1 and it generally ends in tears for one driver.
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Originally published as McLaren shut down Oscar Piastri team orders theory for F1 season finale
Blatant image that proves F1 conspiracy
