Rosberg makes Piastri claim in Norris F1 2025 title prediction

McLaren will have to study the ‘papaya rules’ manual this coming season as Nico Rosberg predicts Oscar Piastri can also fight for the World title along with Lando Norris.

F1 2024 saw a resurgent McLaren mount a challenge for both championship titles, winning the Constructors’ Championship ahead of Ferrari while Norris was second in the Drivers’ standings.

McLaren’s ‘papaya rules’ will be in play in F1 2025

McLaren not only made big gains with their in-season upgrades, but the Woking team stood apart as the only one of the frontrunners not to make a misstep in the process.

Sticking with the floor they introduced in Austria for much of the season, McLaren upgraded other notable parts of the car, closing the gap on Red Bull on the track and then in the standings.

Such were their advances, the team declared Norris would be given priority over Piastri as McLaren starred down a possible championship double.

Piastri was told he would be his team-mate’s wingman and did that admirably at the Sprint in Brazil where he gave the win to Norris only for the Briton’s title quest to implode 24 hours later in the Grand Prix when he dropped from first to sixth, two mistakes costing him valuable positions.

In sharp contrast, Max Verstappen was flawless that Sunday as he raced from 17th on the grid to first, the Red Bull driver breaking his 10-race winless streak before wrapping up the title at the next race in Las Vegas. Norris had to settle for runner-up in the championship.

F1 2024: Team-mate head-to-head stats

👉 F1 2024: Head-to-head qualifying record between team-mates

👉 F1 2024: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

Norris walked away from the F1 2024 championship conceding he has to “improve in a lot of areas and certain things” with mistakes at crucial times having cost him.

But while in 2024 those mistakes gave Verstappen breathing room, in 2025 Rosberg believes they could also open the door for Piastri.

“Lando has that little bit more pure speed,” the 2016 World Champion told Sky F1, “but he has the one or other little mistake from time to time.

“Oscar, little bit less on pure speed, but little bit more solid. So it will be super interesting to see how that’s going to unfold. And certainly Oscar also has a chance to clinch that Drivers’ title.”

The campaign ended with the McLaren team-mates tied in the Sprint head-to-heads but Norris was 16-8 up in the Grands Prix, and 82 points up in the standings. However, in qualifying it was largely one-way traffic with Norris winning that head-to-head 20-4.

“Well, he’s clearly pushed him, right?” was Naomi Schiff’s assessment of Piastri’s form against Norris. “I mean, he’s been really good at qualifying and in the race and in all the Sprints. You want that, you want a team-mate that pushes you, but one that you still have respect for, and that you can still race wheel-to-wheel and be fair.

“It’s a very, very delicate balance. You would know even better, it’s so competitive in Formula One. But I think that’s a good thing.

“I think that he clearly kind of had the second role but he was just so fast, he was able to challenge for wins too and make them happen.”

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella admits he’s hoping that McLaren find themselves in a position of having to bring out the papaya rule book.

“First of all, I hope you are right [that they are fighting each other]. We do want to have that kind of problem,” he said as per the official F1 website.

“We worked very hard to have a problem of having a car in condition to win races and two drivers in condition to win races, and we know that this one in Formula 1 always comes with some complications.

“But these are complications that we have already faced this season to some extent. I think we have always approached that in a cohesive way. Both drivers were always fully aware that we need to find solutions that, first of all, put the interests of the team and then the interests of the drivers.

“And so far, I think this has been a very positive process. It’s a process that we plan to carry over onto next season. But before we think about this problem, we need to think… We call it problem, potentially it’s more of an opportunity.”

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