Ted Kravitz says the ‘old McLaren’ would never have done what Zak Brown has done to Oscar Piastri

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McLaren have tried to maintain complete fairness between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in this season’s F1 title fight. But Ted Kravitz fears they’re only ‘creating problems’ by doing so.

While McLaren sealed one of the earliest constructors’ wins in F1 history at the Singapore Grand Prix, the achievement has been somewhat overshadowed by a second intra-team controversy in three races.

At Monza, Piastri was asked to give second place back to Norris after the British driver suffered a slow pit stop. While he’d been allowed to come in first to cover off the cars behind, McLaren’s instruction made Piastri ‘deeply uncomfortable’.

And in Singapore, the Australian was more forthright in airing his grievances. He told the team they weren’t treating him fairly after Norris bumped his way past at the start and they took no action.

Ted Kravitz says Ron Dennis would never have used Zak Brown’s ‘warm and cosy’ approach

McLaren will argue that their recent success justifies their unique approach. They have won back-to-back titles for the first time since 1990 and ’91.

But given the likelihood that one driver will face more team orders than the other, their philosophy opens them up to allegations of preferential treatment. Indeed, some in the F1 paddock think McLaren are favouring Norris, even inadvertently.

There’s no firm evidence to back that theory up, but they must be wary of alienating one or both of their drivers. There are already rumours that Piastri has held talks with Ferrari for 2027.

McLaren have previously managed some of the most intense teammate rivalries in F1 history, be it Ayrton Senna vs Alain Prost, Mika Hakkinen vs David Coulthard or Lewis Hamilton vs Fernando Alonso. Kravitz says their iconic boss made things very simple.

He said: “Even Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard under the Ron Dennis McLaren, yes they would have the rules – ‘please don’t knock into each other’ – but they certainly wouldn’t have had any of this ‘let’s try and make it fair to each other by giving places back, and we’re going to have a detailed discussion about that’.

“It just wouldn’t have happened in the old McLaren. In trying to be fairer, in a new McLaren, the warm and cosy McLaren, not the rather more every-driver-for-himself, old school Ron Dennis McLaren, that’s part of them creating problems for themselves.”

Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris haven’t turned toxic like McLaren predecessors

Coulthard and Hakkinen couldn’t ‘stand’ one another at McLaren, the Scotsman has admitted. Piastri and Norris, on the other hand, have seemingly been friends since the former made his debut in 2023.

Hakkinen raced alongside Coulthard for seven years, winning the world championship in 1998 and ’99. Before Norris and Piastri, they were the last duo to deliver the constructors’.

McLaren haven’t had a drivers’ title winner since Hamilton in 2008. Barring an extraordinary comeback from Max Verstappen, one of the two drivers will end that drought this season.

Hamilton and Alonso both came within a point of winning the 2007 title, but their fierce competition perhaps proved self-destructive.

While the Spaniard’s camp alleged that he was relegated to number two status, Alonso’s earnings dwarfed Hamilton’s, so the dynamic was very different to what it is today.