Oscar Piastri reveals his blunt response to McLaren talks about helping Lando Norris win 2025 title

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Oscar Piastri has revealed that McLaren have “briefly” discussed him helping Lando Norris win the 2025 F1 title, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen now 24 points behind.

All three drivers still have a chance to take the championship this term, with 58 points up for grabs across the final two rounds in Qatar and Abu Dhabi. Norris could even win the 2025 F1 drivers’ championship this Sunday if he outscores Piastri and Verstappen by only two points.

But while Norris only needs to increase his 24-point lead over his McLaren teammate Piastri and also Red Bull racer Verstappen by two points across the Sprint at Lusail and Qatar Grand Prix, he would now head them by 30 and 42 points without his disqualification in Las Vegas.

McLaren endured their first-ever double disqualification in Las Vegas last Sunday, as Norris and Piastri’s cars were found in breach of Article 3.5.9 of the F1 technical regulations. Their skid blocks were both found to have sustained excessive wear during the post-race checks.

Oscar Piastri has told McLaren he will not help Lando Norris win the 2025 F1 drivers’ title

Norris and Piastri being disqualified from the Las Vegas Grand Prix after Verstappen won the race in Sin City has seriously helped the Red Bull star’s hopes for retaining the title for a fifth straight term. It has also sparked the question of whether McLaren will impose team orders.

READ MORE: F1 experts predict the 2025 Qatar GP, including Lando Norris’ title hopes

McLaren have refused to pick a No1 driver between Norris and Piastri this year, as the team want to let the pair fight for the title on merit. Yet Piastri admits the events in Las Vegas last week have now put team orders on the table, but he quickly said “no” to helping Norris win.

Piastri told Moto.it: “We briefly discussed whether I should help Lando in some way to stop Verstappen, but the answer is ‘no’.

“We’re still level on points, and I have a good chance of winning if everything goes well. I’m focused on doing my best every weekend and seeing how things go for the others.”

Rene Arnoux thinks Oscar Piastri has shown his ‘weakness’ at the ‘wrong time’

McLaren have always stated that Norris and Piastri would be treated equally in the 2025 F1 drivers’ championship fight as long as they have a mathematical chance to win the title, no matter how close Red Bull’s Verstappen gets to denying the team their first title since 2008.

READ MORE: McLaren driver Oscar Piastri’s life outside F1 from height to girlfriend

But, with Verstappen within a Grand Prix win of taking the lead in the 2025 standings for the first time, McLaren are clearly feeling the pressure to the point that they asked Piastri about helping Norris. Piastri becoming the No2 was unthinkable as recently as the end of October.

Norris only regained the lead in the standings from Piastri for the first time since April when he won the Mexico City Grand Prix in round 20 of 24. The Briton also outscored Piastri in six straight rounds, and would have made it seven without their disqualifications in Las Vegas.

And Rene Arnoux feels Piastri crumbled as he “lost confidence”, showing a huge weakness at the wrong time. Piastri crashed in qualifying in Baku, the race in Azerbaijan, into Norris in the COTA Sprint and in the Sao Paulo Sprint, and he also struggled for speed in Mexico City.

“He’s lost confidence,” Arnoux told Gazzetta dello Sport. “It’s hard to say why, whether it’s something personal or team-related.

“Throughout the year, he’s shown he can be very strong but also very weak, and the weakness has emerged at the wrong time. Norris has proven to be more solid, reacting in difficult situations.”