Stella reveals why McLaren doesn’t expect a fallout between Piastri and Norris

McLaren may have what Andrea Stella called a “solid racing approach,” but it’s also the ever-improving relationship between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris that’s keeping its title fight under control.

McLaren is no stranger to team-mate rivalries, especially when the World title is on the line.

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From Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost to Fernando Alonso versus Lewis Hamilton, or James Hunt and Jochen Mass’s fallout, McLaren has experienced intense team-mate rivalries and the consequences of them.

However, this year the Woking team is storming to a championship second consecutive Constructors’ Championship as looks set to claim a one-two in the Drivers’ standings with mutual respect and congratulations between Piastri and Norris.

They’re doing it with smiles even though for both F1 2025 is their first, and for all they know also their last, opportunity to win the Formula 1 Drivers’ title.

The McLaren team-mates left the Hungaroring on Sunday evening separated by just nine points after Norris clinched the victory using a one-stop strategy that proved seven-tenths faster than Piastri’s two-stopper. It was the Briton’s fifth win of the campaign, while Piastri has six, giving him the lead in the standings.

With the race marking McLaren’s seventh one-two result and the team’s fourth in succession, all the signs point to an intense back-and-forth tussle when F1 returns with the Dutch Grand Prix for the final 10 races of the season.

Team boss Stella isn’t worried that a fallout could be on the cards, even though the stakes will increase the closer the drivers get to Abu Dhabi.

F1 2025: The season’s winners and losers

👉 The results of the F1 2025 championship

👉 The updated Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship standings

“I think there may be a natural increase of what could be a sense of pressure because the races reduce in number and every race will become, relatively, slightly more important,” said the McLaren team principal.

“But from the point of view of the team principal and the team, our two drivers and the team have sustained this quest to the championships in a very solid way.

“Over time, reviewing this race by race, we have created a solid racing approach, an approach to which Lando and Oscar have definitely contributed.

“It’s not like the team created this racing approach and now Lando and Oscar follow it—we have put it together as a team including drivers.

“So, I think this is a very robust framework, and this will be more and more important as the marginal value of every race increases as we get closer to the end of the season.”

But it’s not just McLaren’s much-talked-about ‘papaya rules’ that are affecting how the drivers handle the title fight; there’s also their relationship.

Stella revealed lessons learnt at last year’s Hungarian Grand Prix, when the team undercut race leader Piastri to protect Norris before then ordering the Brit to give the position back to his team-mate, helped pave the way for a better relationship between the drivers and the team.

“If anything, the relationship between Oscar and Lando keeps improving. This is not the effect of a random evolution. This is because we invest in relationships,” he said.

“When I refer to fundamentals of Formula 1, relationships are probably slightly less tangible, but I think they are as fundamental as aerodynamics. This involves the relationship between drivers and the team and between the drivers themselves.

“If I take the race we had last year in Hungary, we spent quite a lot of time reviewing that individually with the drivers and together. We tried to learn from each other as much as possible. We reminded ourselves that Formula 1 is difficult, and we are always going to face some difficulties. This is an awareness we need to have.

“From there, what can we do to improve? What can we do as a team to make sure we have a framework that allows Lando and Oscar to pursue their aspirations, always protecting the interests of the team.

“Once again, I’m a lucky team principal because the two drivers are very reasonable, very fair, very correct, humble, and above all, they understand that we are here not only to pursue our interest in the present but also to protect the future of their own careers and of McLaren Racing.”

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