Juan Pablo Montoya says there are some within McLaren who would ‘prefer’ Oscar Piastri to win F1 title

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McLaren have faced external allegations of favouritism as they manage the F1 title battle between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

McLaren academy graduate Norris has raced for the team since 2019, and his relationship with Zak Brown dates back 10 years. Piastri didn’t join until 2023, but he has helped the Woking outfit win back-to-back constructors’ titles.

The team’s well-publicised pit wall decisions in Italy and Singapore both went against Piastri, creating an impression in certain quarters of the F1 paddock that McLaren are favouring Norris.

It’s important to stress that this accusation has never come from Piastri himself or his manager, Mark Webber. It’s somewhat inevitable that there will be suspicions when two closely-matched teammates are gunning for the F1 championship.

McLaren ‘internally don’t care’ if Lando Norris or Oscar Piastri win the title

Appearing on the AS Colombia YouTube channel, Juan Pablo Montoya was asked whether McLaren would still swap their drivers based on a slow pit stop as they did at Monza. Norris allowed Piastri to come in first but then dropped behind on track after he was delayed in the box.

Piastri called this ‘part of racing’ at first, then allowed his teammate through. If the same situation presented itself again, Montoya doubts that McLaren would interfere.

Heading into the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Piastri trails Norris in the championship by 24 points.

“I think McLaren is going to be very careful about that in these races and there won’t be any strategy, they’ll just say good pit stop, bad pit stop and that’s it,” Montoya, who raced for McLaren in 2005 and 2006, said.

“I think they’re going to race straight ahead and whatever happens, try to get the best results and score the most points.”

Gerhard Berger suspects that Brown likes Norris more than Piastri, but Montoya says it goes both ways – there will be those at the team who would rather see the Australian win, even if they won’t let that influence their behaviour.

“At the end of the day, the team internally doesn’t care if Lando or Oscar wins,” he said. “Obviously, within the team there are people who prefer Lando to win and within the team there are people who prefer Oscar to win.”

Juan Pablo Montoya has changed his mind about Oscar Piastri’s McLaren future

Montoya believes one McLaren driver will leave at the end of next year, and it will be the one who loses out in the championship battle.

Barring another stunning turnaround, that will be Piastri. Previously, Montoya said McLaren could hold onto the 24-year-old by building another dominant package under the new regulations in 2026.

Now, he agrees with Jacques Villeneuve – it will depend on whether Piastri is able to strike back against Norris next year.

“I think that Oscar is already talking to other people, and there are rumours about that,” he said. “

“The only way, and Villeneuve said this, the only way Oscar could stay at McLaren and have a good future at McLaren is if he beats Lando next year, no matter what happens this year.”