Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris will want to avoid repeat of 2016 Mercedes fate at the Austrian Grand Prix

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Lando Norris heads into the European swing with a significant amount of ground he needs to regain on teammate Oscar Piastri in the title race.

It was an expensive collision for McLaren in Canada, but it cost Norris even more points in the title race as he is now over 20 points behind Piastri in the title battle.

Overturning a 20-point deficit isn’t impossible for Norris with 14 races to go, but it requires a bit of luck and for Piastri’s consistency to drop off.

Piastri has lapsed only twice so far this year, once when he skated off the road in conditions that were very tricky to judge in Australia and again in Canada at the start against Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

McLaren find themselves in the same position as Mercedes did in the early years of the hybrid era: with a car that holds a significant advantage over the rest of the field and two drivers capable of winning the title.

Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton’s rivalry was one of F1’s best in the last decade, and McLaren will be keen to avoid one outcome that set the tone for the rest of their 2016 season.

McLaren will want to avoid repeat of Mercedes’ 2016 crash

Hamilton and Rosberg collided in similar fashion to the McLarens on the final lap of the Austrian GP, as the Briton chased him down for the win.

Rosberg took a defensive line through Turn 4 and appeared to overshoot his braking point, sending him into the side of Hamilton.

The collision was innocuous, but the consequences were big, as Rosberg had damaged his car enough to cause him to drop off the podium while Hamilton had to limp home to the chequered flag with Max Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen bearing down on him.

Rosberg was deemed at fault, but Mercedes management took a dim view of the situation, with team principal Toto Wolff branding it “brainless” and declaring that he was “fed up” of having to analyse who was in the right or wrong between his two drivers [via Sky Sports].

Toto Wolff gave Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg ‘final warning’ after Austria clash

McLaren have been clear in the aftermath of Canada that any form of contact would be unacceptable, but if it happens again and the situation is more contentious, that could face the same fate as Mercedes.

Wolff had issued his drivers with a ‘final warning’ after their second major collision in a handful of races, with even talks of substituting drivers if it got out of hand [via The Guardian].

It also resulted in there being more rules of engagement between their drivers, while strategy options would then favour the lead driver to prevent further overlaps in the races.

This was while Mercedes was virtually guaranteed they would win the Constructors’ Championship due to their performance, but McLaren do not have that same advantage.

McLaren have the luxury of a healthy margin in the Constructors’ Championship for now, as main rivals Red Bull are relying largely on Max Verstappen, and both Mercedes and Ferrari are too inconsistent to be considered credible threats.

But it’s a different picture in the Drivers’ Championship with Verstappen within 40 points of Piastri. To lose the Drivers’ title, the one which arguably gets more exposure, would look embarrassing for a team that has spent so much money and effort trying to get back to winning ways.

Zak Brown has made it no secret that McLaren will use team orders when it’s clear one driver cannot win the 2025 F1 title, but they may be forced to mimic Wolff and Mercedes if there are more unforced errors.