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• Laurence EdmondsonSep 8, 2025, 04:40 PM ET

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  • Joined ESPN in 2009
  • An FIA accredited F1 journalist since 2011

Formula 1 is unusual for many reasons, but one element never fails to add drama: two teammates fighting over a single drivers’ title. On the one hand, they are employed by the same team and competing on behalf of more than a thousand employees; on the other, they are chasing their own dreams — ultimately at the expense of the others.

With Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris the only two drivers still in contention for this year’s title, it’s a paradox McLaren is all too familiar with. Ever since the team returned to winning ways at the Miami Grand Prix last year, it has worked tirelessly to ensure a level playing field for its drivers should a title be on the line.

Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix showed how hard it can be to maintain a balance of fairness between two drivers, but the decision to swap Piastri and Norris comes after more than a year of tough decisions and potential flashpoints. Below, we assess how McLaren got here and the precedents that have been set ahead of the eight races that will decide the 2025 season.

Both McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris have been neck and neck in this year’s World Championship. (Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

2024 Hungarian Grand Prix

What happened?

It’s easy to forget that little over a year ago, McLaren was still adapting to life with a race-winning car. Ahead of the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix, Norris only had one win to his name (at that year’s Miami Grand Prix) and Piastri had yet to climb on the top step of an F1 podium. The Hungaroring presented the perfect opportunity for the team to add a second victory to its breakthrough season, but as the race unfolded, the question of which driver deserved to take it became a thorny issue.

Norris started from pole position but was beaten by Piastri into the first corner and had to settle into second place. The order remained the same as the race played out, but McLaren’s first one-two victory since 2021 was still under threat from Lewis Hamilton in third place.

To protect against an undercut from Hamilton, the McLaren pit wall ordered Norris to pit first, in turn giving him a fresh tire advantage over Piastri that meant Norris took the lead when Piastri emerged from his own stop. McLaren made clear to Norris that they wanted to reverse positions once the two cars were comfortably clear of the rest of the field, but the British driver was initially reluctant to comply.

– McLaren walking a ‘fairness’ tightrope with Norris, Piastri
– Oscar Piastri: McLaren team order to swap with Lando Norris was ‘fair’
– 2025 Italian Grand Prix recap: F1 results, highlights as Verstappen dominates

“I know you’ll do the right thing,” Norris was told by race engineer Will Joseph. “Well, you should have pitted him first,” Norris replied.

With six laps remaining and still no indication that Norris would yield, Joseph added, “Lando, he can’t catch you up. You’ve proved your point. The way to win a championship is not by yourself. You’re going to need Oscar, and you’re going to need the team.”

Norris finally complied with the order with two laps remaining, ensuring Piastri secured his first career victory and McLaren took the one-two. Precedent set: The Hungary example had clear parallels with Monza’s race on Sunday, and was even referenced by Tom Stallard, Piastri’s race engineer, during their radio exchange.

Put simply, if the usual convention of pitting the lead car first is overridden to protect the second car from a rival, any position change between the McLarens as a result of pitting out of sequence can be expected to be reversed on track.

It seems fair, but the tension and controversy in the Hungary example was significantly ramped up by Norris’ initial reluctance to obey the team order.

The McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri ended up on the podium, with the Australian winning his first ever F1 race. (Photo by Alessio Morgese/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

2024 Italian Grand Prix

What happened?

Red Bull’s struggle during the second half of the 2024 season opened up the possibility of Norris fighting for the title if results went his way. Up until the Italian Grand Prix, McLaren had loosely acknowledged such a scenario, but stopped short of backing Norris over Piastri in racing situations. That changed after Monza.

Norris arrived in Italy on a high after claiming a dominant victory in Zandvoort, and went on to secure pole position ahead of Piastri on the Monza grid. He fended off an attack from Piastri at the first chicane, but the Australian — playing by the team’s “Papaya rules,” which allow the drivers to fight for position as long as they avoid a collision — pulled a clean and decisive move around the outside of Norris to take the lead at the second chicane.

Norris, boxed in by his teammate and in an effort to avoid a collision, then lost a position to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc on the exit of the chicane, dropping him from the lead to third place in the space of just a few corners on the opening lap.

Leclerc went on to secure victory with a one-stop strategy, while Piastri took second place ahead of Norris in third.

Despite neither of them winning, both Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris took pole in Monza. (Photo by Kym Illman/Getty Images)

Precedent set: Discussions following Monza led to McLaren agreeing to support Norris’ title campaign, particularly in situations where there was a 50/50 call between its drivers. Piastri would not be expected to give up grand prix victories for Norris, but he might be asked to move aside for lower positions. What’s more, moves that resulted in the team losing positions to rivals, like Piastri’s at Monza, were to be avoided.

Piastri, whose own title hopes were slim to none, accepted the new terms of racing on a pragmatic level.

“It is a big ask,” he said at the time. “But they’ve obviously given me a massive opportunity to be in this position both in F1 and at the front of the grid in F1. It’s something that won’t be forgotten, I guess, in the future.

“It will be remembered in the future, and there’s been things in the past, whether it be with upgrades or strategies in some races, that have always been remembered. That’s kind of our way of going racing.”

The relative harmony in the team now is perhaps in part linked to Piastri’s willingness to help Norris at the end of the 2024 season.

2024 Brazil sprint race

What happened?

The only time that McLaren’s decision to favor Norris in the 2024 season run-in had a direct impact on a result was at the Brazilian Grand Prix sprint race. Piastri secured pole and led Norris for the first 22 laps of the race before McLaren asked him to move aside and let his teammate pass with two laps remaining.

Piastri’s immediate compliance with the order was key as a late Virtual Safety Car (VSC) threatened to prevent McLaren from swapping in the final two laps. Norris, clearly uncomfortable with securing the victory via team orders, thanked Piastri after the race.

“Yeah, not proud about it,” he said. “But we work well as a team together. So, I thank Oscar, but we’ve done a great job as a team. Today was the result that we wanted. Oscar deserved it, but we’re doing what we have to do, so I thank him and the team.”

Precedent set: Because McLaren had spent several races talking about its support of Norris’ title bid, the eventual gifted sprint race victory lacked any real controversy. Perhaps the swap could have happened earlier in the race to minimize an emerging threat from Max Verstappen and the rush of doing it before the late VSC; however, ultimately Norris and Piastri were singing from the same hymn sheet.

The fact that it was a sprint race and only resulted in a one-point difference also lessened any controversy, although Norris would not forget the favor.

2024 Qatar sprint race

What happened?

Despite McLaren’s efforts, Verstappen secured the 2024 title at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, meaning Norris and Piastri went back to being treated as equals for the final two races of the season. But at the first sprint race following Brazil, Norris saw an opportunity to repay his teammate and moved over, coming out of the final corner in Qatar to hand victory to Piastri.

The incident was actually a rare occurrence of a McLaren driver disobeying a team order after race engineer Will Joseph told Norris to “finish in this order” in the closing stages. That was partly because the move came with some risk as Piastri had been engaged in a race-long battle with George Russell, who only finished 0.3s off Norris when the McLaren drivers made the swap just before the line.

Piastri acknowledged Norris’ gesture over team radio: “Thank you for the teamwork, much appreciated.”

Precedent set: The driver-initiated switch underlined the sense of fair play between Norris and Piastri, even if it went against the team’s wishes in the final laps.

McLaren were engaged in a tight battle in the constructors’ championship with Ferrari, meaning a loss of a single point could have been painful, but the finishing order ultimately brought smiles to the McLaren pit wall while rewarding Piastri’s compliance in Brazil with the sprint victory he deserved. Any score between the drivers had been settled.

2025 Australian Grand Prix

What happened?

McLaren’s advantage over the rest of the field this year became immediately clear in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix as Norris and Piastri pulled a 16-second gap over Verstappen in drying conditions at Albert Park early in the race. But as they disappeared into the distance, McLaren issued an order on lap 30 for Piastri not to attack Norris until they’d passed some traffic ahead.

Three laps later, Piastri was told he was allowed to race again, but a possible opportunity to take advantage of the lapped cars had been lost.

The incident became a footnote in the story of the opening race as Piastri later slid off the circuit when the rain returned and dropped to ninth at the finish. But it was the first instance of McLaren attempting to control the battle between its two drivers.

play

1:02

Lando Norris triumphant in chaotic Australian Grand Prix

Take a look back at what happened during the first race of the 2025 season in Melbourne.

Precedent set: There was sound logic to McLaren’s team orders — the conditions at the time had left a single drying line on the circuit, and both cars were on worn intermediate tires, making it even more treacherous to go wheel-to-wheel around lapped cars.

But it made clear just how jumpy McLaren was around its drivers racing and that, in certain conditions, intervention could not be ruled out. “We had to go through the back markers and then the update on the weather forecast led us to close for a short period of time the internal racing between our two drivers until we had clarity as to the weather prediction,” team principal Andrea Stella explained after the race.

2025 Canadian Grand Prix

What happened?

Far from a team orders controversy, the collision between Norris and Piastri in Montreal was an example of how the drivers maturely dealt with a flashpoint between them.

The nature of the crash, which saw Norris drive into the rear of Piastri on the pit straight while lining up an overtake, made things easy to deal with, as there was no doubt that Norris was to blame.

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The British driver immediately apologized over team radio, while any tension from Piastri’s side was undoubtedly eased by a 12-point extension of his lead in the championship.

Precedent set: A collision between the drivers had been deemed inevitable by many in the team, so Norris taking the blame helped reduce some of the pressure internally. Had the collision had more of an impact on Piastri’s result there may have been a bigger controversy, but the outcome ultimately had no impact on the relationship between the drivers.

2025 Austrian Grand Prix

What happened?

Just one race after Canada, the Austrian Grand Prix provided an example of clean racing between the two McLaren drivers — although Piastri was issued a warning for an attempted move at Turn 4. The Australian locked a front tire as he looked to the inside of Norris at the downhill right-hander and momentarily looked as though he might cause a collision. Norris ultimately held on for victory, with Piastri apologizing for the move at the checkered flag.

Precedent set: McLaren viewed the close call and subsequent apology by Piastri as proof of the standards of fair racing instilled between the two drivers. It was also an opportunity to point to a lesson learned after Canada.

“There was only one situation in which the two cars ended up a little too close, when Oscar locked up and he ended up very close to Lando,” Stella said. “We gave Oscar this feedback and I want to acknowledge and once again say that I am proud of Oscar, because as soon as he crossed the finish line, he said, ‘Sorry for the situation in corner four. My bad. I know what I have to do.’

“So I think it’s all very clear. I am so refreshed by how the team reviewed the situation in Canada, which was a benign situation, it was just a misjudgment, and we have come out stronger and even more united from there.”

2025 British Grand Prix

What happened?

The British Grand Prix was a rare example of one of McLaren’s drivers asking for a team order to be implemented — albeit unsuccessfully. Piastri looked set to win at Silverstone until he was issued with a 10-second penalty for driving erratically behind the safety car. The decision of the stewards dropped him behind Norris, leaving the Australian feeling hard done by.

“I don’t think the penalty before was very fair,” Piastri said over team radio. “I know it’s a big question, but if you don’t think it was fair either, I think we should swap back and race.”

McLaren ultimately declined the request, resulting in Norris taking an important victory at his home race.

Lando Norris picked up a bittersweet win at Silverstone. (Photo by Li Ying/Xinhua via Getty Images)

Precedent set: Even while asking the question, Piastri seemed to know what the answer would be. The penalty was a result of his own mistake, and even if McLaren felt 10 seconds was over the top, it made a clear precedent that it would not intervene to overrule the impact of stewards’ decision in races.

However, Stella also pointed out that there were no hard feelings around Piastri raising the question. “We always tell our drivers, don’t keep things in the back of your mind while you drive,” he explained. “If you have a point, if you have a suggestion, if you want to let us know what you’re thinking, just say it.”

2025 Hungarian Grand Prix

What happened?

One year on from its Budapest team orders debacle, and McLaren again found itself explaining certain decisions after the race. Although there were no team orders involved, Norris benefitted from an unfancied one-stop strategy to beat Piastri, who was stuck behind Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari on a two-stop strategy, to victory.

Precedent set: By allowing Norris to take a punt on an alternative strategy, McLaren underlined its policy of free racing between teammates. That not only means letting the drivers fight wheel-to-wheel for positions, but also the more nuanced balancing act of putting the chasing driver on a strategy that has the potential of overhauling his teammate.

“As McLaren Racing, we want to give great racing to Formula 1,” Stella said.

“We want to give our two drivers the possibility to utilise, express their talent, pursue their aspirations, their personal success, and this needs to happen within the boundaries of the team interest and the fairness, the sportsmanship, and the respect for one another. When we have a deviating strategy, when we have different options, I think this is part of racing.”

2025 Italian Grand Prix

What happened?

McLaren’s most recent use of team orders is perhaps its most controversial of the past two seasons. With Max Verstappen leading Sunday’s race, the pit wall opted to extend the stints of both Norris and Piastri for as long as possible to benefit from a potential late safety car.

However, that meant Leclerc closing in on Piastri ahead of the stops, leading Norris to suggest McLaren should Piastri first, albeit with the caveat “only if he doesn’t get the undercut, otherwise I’ll box first”.

Piastri’s pit stop was one of the fastest of the race and saw him come out 4.5 seconds clear of Leclerc. Norris pitted next, but a problem changing the front-left tire meant he stood stationary for over five seconds and lost position to Piastri when he reemerged.

play

1:37

Is disaster for Oscar Pisatri the only title chance for Lando Norris?

Laurence Edmondson looks at how a DNF in Zandvoort has left Lando Norris’ title hopes on the ropes.

Two laps later and Piastri was told to give the position back to his teammate, with his race engineer saying, “This is the same as Hungary last year, I know it’s painful, but you will have five laps remaining from now.” Norris went on to take second place ahead of Piastri, reducing the Australian’s lead in the championship to 31 points.

Precedent set: This is where it gets tricky. By swapping positions, you could argue that any slow pit stops in the future should be rectified by team orders. But Stella insisted the crux of the issue was not the slow stop but that Piastri was given the first pit stop. Viewed that way, the decision was consistent with Hungary 2024.

“We pursued the team interest to capitalize as much as possible, and in the team interests we had to go first with Oscar and then with Lando,” Stella said. “But the clear intent was this is not going to deliver a swap of positions.

“So the fact that we went first with Oscar, compounded by the slow pit stop with Lando, led to a swap of positions. And we thought it was absolutely the right thing to go back to the situation preexisting the pitstop and then let the guys race. This is what we did and this is what we think is compliant with our principles.”

He added: “We will review also the situation whereby it is a slow pitstop in isolation. We already have our principles in relation to that. We will review our principles in relation to that. And reinforce the direction if this is in agreement with our drivers.”

The problem McLaren now faces is making future decisions in line with the increasingly complex web of precedents set over the past two years. However, as has been the case throughout the team’s rise to success, it intends to address the issues openly with the drivers to avoid as many nasty surprises as possible.

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