McLaren were deemed the favorites in 2025 after they had a strong pre-season testing in Bahrain. While their MCL39 has lived up to the expectations by being the quickest and most consistent car on the grid, they are not well clear of their rivals. As a result, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen has been able to constantly challenge both Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris for wins at every other race.
However, Piastri has been able to handle this pressure in a much better manner than Norris. In fact, after his gut-wrenching loss at the season-opening Australian GP, the Melbourne-born driver has racked up three Grand Prix victories in the past four race weekends and has climbed to the top of the Drivers’ standings, 10 points ahead of Norris.
It is a complete turnaround in dynamics at McLaren, who had been prioritizing Norris as their “lead driver” until last season, when he was their best contender to beat Verstappen in the championship. In that scenario, Piastri had to settle for being the Briton’s wingman, even though he knew he had the ability to be quicker and better than his teammate.
Fortunately, the #81 driver has stepped up his game from the get-go in 2025 and could easily usurp Norris’ position as McLaren’s lead contender for the drivers’ title. However, when will that time arrive when the Woking-based outfit realizes that Piastri is better and makes the decision to favor him? Former F1 team principal Guenther Steiner thinks it could be by the summer break.
“If Max [Verstappen] is doing what he is doing at the moment, I think they need to tell one [driver] to get in line,” Steiner said on the Red Flags podcast. The former Haas boss stated that McLaren CEO Zak Brown would ideally want Piastri and Norris to go racing as he believes they are equally talented and are performing at a similar level.
First driver to win back-to-back races this season – and the first time Piastri has won back-to-back races in his #F1 career pic.twitter.com/A80Ju4d2F5
— The Race (@wearetherace) April 20, 2025
However, the Australian driver has shown that his performance ceiling is higher; he seems to have a calmer presence in the cockpit and has ironed out his mistakes more or so this season. So, McLaren’s top brass won’t have another choice but to prioritize Piastri if he continues to stretch his legs in the drivers’ championship ahead of Norris and Verstappen.
On top of that, Steiner feels Verstappen maximizing his results is going to be the reason why the Woking-based outfit need to prioritize one driver in the title race. “If Max comes close, I think after the summer break, there will be ‘Lando, get in line'”, he added.
As things stand, this seems to be the most likely scenario with Norris struggling to get on top of the MCL39’s peak performance. While Piastri clinched pole position in Bahrain, the British driver fumbled his flying lap to end up only P6. Even in Jeddah, when the Aussie was fighting tooth and nail for pole with Verstappen, Norris failed to even set a lap time in Q3 due to his hefty crash at turn 5.
This is the moment that cost Lando Norris a chance at pole position tonight #F1 #SaudiArabianGP pic.twitter.com/QvzYSUYrha
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 19, 2025
So, the #4 driver knows he needs to work on qualifying performances, under the pressure of Q3 especially, since his teammate has taken a significant step in his single-lap pace. Heading to the upcoming race weekends, Norris cannot afford to drop the ball again in qualifying if he wants to keep himself in contention for wins and also the title.
If Piastri continues to beat Norris, McLaren will not hesitate to favor the Australian, especially if Verstappen continues to stay in the title fight.
