McLaren told they will have Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri ‘problem’ that can’t be solved next season

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McLaren headed into the Azerbaijan Grand Prix by calling on Oscar Piastri to support Lando Norris in the championship battle, but their roles reversed in the race.

The team told Lando Norris to hold up Sergio Perez in a bid to prevent Oscar Piastri from being under cut in the pit stops, which worked and enabled the Australian to make the race-winning pass on Charles Leclerc for the lead.

Piastri has scored the most points of any driver in the last seven races and won the same amount of Grands Prix as Norris this season, having improved his form in the races before the summer break.

Despite being mathematically within a chance of the Drivers’ title with seven races left, Piastri is now looking like he could be a contender in 2025 if McLaren continues its current form.

Discussing whether it could work in the long term between him and Norris on the Chequered Flag podcast, former F1 mechanic Marc Priestley has his doubts.

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Marc Priestley believes there is ‘no way’ Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri can be friends

The dynamic between Piastri and Norris has been watched closely in F1, as the latter is seen as the experienced team leader. But in two years, Piastri has managed to equal Norris’ win tally and is now regularly outperforming him.

Priestley, who was working for McLaren at the height of the Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso teammate battle, explained why this could be bad news for them next year.

“It could pose a problem for McLaren going forwards, two drivers of the calibre they’ve got when they have a car that is dominating a championship from the beginning, which could happen in 2025,” said Priestley.

“They’ve come into this halfway through after Oscar had a difficult start to the season. If they hit the ground running in 2025, become championship contenders, and you have two drivers going for the title, that could be tough.

“There is no way that two drivers going for a title in the same team, with no other contenders around them, can be friends at the end of that championship. I’ve looked at this from many an angle and I don’t think it’s possible. The one thing that’s standing in the way of you achiving the dream if your childhood is a guy wearing the same colours in the same car. He becomes your enemy.”

McLaren eyes first Constructors’ Championship since 1998

Piastri’s win coupled with a late promotion to fourth for Norris, owing to a crash between Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez, means McLaren now moves ahead of Red Bull in the Constructors’ Championship by 20 points.

It is the first time that McLaren has led a championship since the 2014 season and could see them clinch their first Constructors’ title since 1998.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about McLaren F1 Team from team principal to engine

Helmut Marko believes Red Bull should no longer focus on the Constructors’ title, while senior members within the Red Bull team have already conceded that McLaren could be unstoppable.

With Singapore the next circuit, the only Grand Prix that Red Bull lost last year after winning the other 21 races, it is set to be another test over whether Verstappen and Perez can close the gap.