Martin Brundle delivers ‘doomed to fail’ verdict on McLaren’s plan for Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri

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McLaren have modified the rules for Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri for the United States Grand Prix. But they remain intent on giving both an equal opportunity to win the title.

It emerged on Thursday that Norris would face ‘repercussions’ for making contact with Piastri at the start of round 18 in Singapore. These will be in place until the end of the season.

Piastri leads Norris by 22 points ahead of the race at the Circuit of the Americas, where 34 will be up for grabs.

The two drivers have collided once this season, though Norris immediately took responsibility for their Canadian GP tangle and he suffered the consequences on track too. The tension appears to be rising, though, as a first F1 title comes into view.

Having two drivers like Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri is ‘always going to go wrong’

Speaking on Sky Sports prior to FP1 at the US GP, Martin Brundle reiterated his view that the ‘gloves are off’ at McLaren for the final six races. The team may have remedied Piastri’s evident frustration from Singapore.

Andrea Stella’s squad sealed the constructors’ title at Marina Bay, but some restrictions will remain in place. McLaren are keen to preserve harmony between the two so that the partnership remains viable long-term.

But Brundle says, when there are two ‘supremely competitive’ drivers in the same garage, peace can only last so long.

• READ MORE: Karun Chandhok tells Oscar Piastri what he must now do after counterintuitive McLaren team orders

“100% [the gloves are off],” he said. “There’s a championship to be won. They’ve both got a fantastic car as well. Max is appearing in the rear-view mirrors quite quickly as well in the last few races.

“In many respects, this set up is doomed to fail. You’ve got two supremely competitive athletes working in a team environment. It’s always going to go wrong. It’s just a question of how the teams handle it.”

Martin Brundle suggests what McLaren ‘repercussions’ for Lando Norris might be

Later in the broadcast, Brundle was asked what ‘repercussions’ Norris might be facing. He stressed that McLaren won’t be handing ‘any advantage to other teams’.

Instead, he reckons that Norris might be told to give his teammate a tow in a qualifying session. Piastri used that method to help the Briton reach Q3 at Monza in September.

Brundle also argued that McLaren would have been ‘cheering’ Norris’ aggressive driving in Singapore had he not made contact with the sister car.

“Whatever they’re going to do will be inside the team,” he said. “It won’t affect the overall performance of the team against others.

• READ MORE: Charles Leclerc names who he thinks will win 2025 F1 title between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris

“It’s slightly odd here, because I think what McLaren are doing is, actually, for the sport very good. They can race from lights out to the chequered flag with one proviso – don’t run into each other. There are then obviously these consequences.

“If it hadn’t been Piastri alongside him, the team would have cheered those first few corners for Lando. He happened to just touch his teammate.

“But if we were in a development race, I think it would be, for example, Oscar would get the new parts first – something like that, or if it’s a slipstream track where you need a slipstream in qualifying, Oscar would get priority on that.

“It would be that kind of inter-team thing that doesn’t hand any advantage to other teams.”