What the ‘chatter in the paddock’ is now saying about McLaren’s stance on Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri

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McLaren have been in the most privileged position in the paddock this season, but that’s come with its own problems.

The constructors’ championship was wrapped up by McLaren with six races to go, a Formula 1 record they now share with Red Bull.

McLaren staff joined Lando Norris on the podium that day at the Singapore Grand Prix, while his teammate Oscar Piastri fielded some very uncomfortable questions.

The Australian was still leading the drivers’ championship, but his advantage had just been reduced by Norris after a clumsy move on the first lap.

This led to Norris facing repercussions at the following race, suggesting that McLaren had laid some blame at the 25-year-old’s feet, even if this wasn’t going to return the points that Piastri lost out on.

The pair collided again in Austin, and while this was going on, Max Verstappen was rapidly turning what looked like a two-horse race for the drivers’ championship into a three-man contest.

Norris had a debrief with McLaren after Singapore, telling the team exactly what he needed to start winning races again.

It’s worked, and despite all of the effort Piastri is putting in behind the scenes, the talk in the paddock is that it might not be enough.

READ MORE: McLaren driver Lando Norris’ life outside F1 from parents to celebration

The ‘chatter in the paddock’ in Formula 1 is McLaren are favouring Lando Norris over Oscar Piastri

Speaking on the Inside the Piranha Club Podcast, journalists Ben Hunt and Rebecca Clancy were discussing the inner workings at McLaren.

Hunt said: “It’s a case now where you have to trust the data and what the engineers are telling you rather than what you think is going to happen and how you feel the situation is going to be.

“It’s shades of Jenson Button, 2009, when he started so well and then all of a sudden the progress stopped with that car and other people caught up, and then it was just sort of limping over the line.

“Well, I think that, unfortunately for Piastri at the moment, we’ve got to the point where he’s already been passed now, and he really does need to turn this corner very quickly and rediscover that form.

“I mean, it is all about form and trust, and he’s got to refind that form and refind that trust in the team that they’re telling the right things.

“If there’s a suspicion or an inkling of doubt that, say for example, he fears that they might be favouring Norris over him in terms of strategy, that all feeds into the psychology of a driver.

Clancy then suggested: “Well, that’s certainly the chatter in the paddock, isn’t it?”

Hunt concluded: “Absolutely. He just needs to clear all that out, go back to doing what he was doing, and trust what he’s being told.”

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

Zak Brown claims McLaren preference for Lando Norris over Oscar Piastri is ‘nonsense’

It’s easy to see why Piastri and his fans might be upset by how the second half of the season has played out.

Decisions made on the pit wall that benefited Norris in Hungary, where he was put on a quicker strategy, at Monza when the drivers had to swap positions after a slow pit stop, and in Singapore with the aforementioned first corner incident.

However, speaking to BBC Sport, CEO Zak Brown suggested that any suggestion that McLaren were favouring Norris was ‘nonsense’.

He went on to say regarding the incident at the Italian Grand Prix: “If the lead car is prepared to sacrifice their rights to the first call to help his teammate, who’s actually his number one competitor in the championship, that’s great teamwork.

“And we did that to protect Oscar, which actually is to the detriment of Lando in an out-and-out race. Then we had the pit-stop issue.

“Everyone thinks we reversed the order because of the pit stop. That actually had nothing to do with it. So the challenge then becomes you almost can’t explain everything all the time, and people jump to conclusions.

“So I understand what it looks like from the outside, but it’s not what’s going on on the inside, and we’re trying so hard to give them equal opportunity and let them race hard.

“I wish everyone recognised more of that. But I’ve definitely come to the conclusion there are too many fans with too many views, (and) that we’ve just got to be comfortable with how we’re going racing inside McLaren, and that’s what’s most important to us.”

Brown might be doing his best to explain the situation, but many within the sport don’t appear to be buying what he’s saying.