Follow us on Google Discover Guenther Steiner fears McLaren now risk losing the 2025 F1 drivers’ title if the team do not react to Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri’s incident during the Singapore Grand Prix.
The papaya pals continue to top the 2025 F1 drivers’ championship standings with six Grand Prix and three F1 Sprint events to go. Yet Red Bull ace Max Verstappen reduced his deficit to Piastri and Norris for the third round in succession with his P2 in last Sunday’s Singapore GP.
Verstappen has trimmed what were deficits of 104 and 70 points to the McLaren pilots after the Dutch Grand Prix after he also won in Monza and Baku, further aided by Piastri crashing in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The Dutchman now trails Piastri by 63 points and Norris by 41.
Tensions are also building in the McLaren garage after Norris collided with Piastri during the Singapore GP last Sunday, as the Briton snatched third place from his teammate. Norris had to turn out to Piastri after tagging the rear of Verstappen’s Red Bull at Turn 3 on the first lap.
Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty ImagesGuenther Steiner claims McLaren ‘obviously’ have to back Oscar Piastri to win the F1 title
Steiner now fears McLaren may risk failing to win the 2025 F1 drivers’ title with either Piastri or Norris if the Woking squad do not react to their stars’ incident in the Singapore GP, which frustrated the former. Piastri could not hide his anger after feeling Norris was too aggressive.
READ MORE: Every error that cost Lando Norris points in his failed 2024 F1 title challenge
Position Drivers’ Championship PointsPts 1 336 2 314 3 273 4 237
And the ex-Haas team principal even believes it is “obvious” that McLaren must back Piastri to win this year’s drivers’ title, having got the better of Norris through the first two-thirds of the 2025 F1 season. Norris now leads Piastri 10-8 in their Grand Prix results head-to-head.
Steiner said on The Red Flags Podcast: “Either you let them race or, if you’re worried [about] losing the championship, you have to make the call. You have to tell one guy and, obviously, that one guy is Piastri because he has got more points than Lando.
“I’m sorry, and it’s nothing against Lando, [but] Oscar put himself in the first two-thirds of the races in a better position. Now, you go and win the world championship because if they lose the drivers’ world championship now, then you’ve got two unhappy drivers.
“At least if you favour one, you’ve only got one unhappy driver… They had to race up to now. [But] now it’s like you need to support it. We need to win the championship.
“Last year, they didn’t win the championship. This year, if they continue like this in Singapore, it’s not a done deal. I still think they will win it because, at some stage, they will do what I just said, because otherwise the drivers will fall out between them.”
McLaren may struggle to back Oscar Piastri for the 2025 F1 title given Lando Norris’ results
Piastri has been the superior McLaren driver in qualifying this year, with his P3 on the grid in Singapore to Norris’ P4 taking the Australian’s lead to 10-8. He also leads the Briton 3-0 in Sprint Qualifying sessions in 2025, as well as 2-1 for their Sprint results with three more due.
READ MORE: McLaren driver Oscar Piastri’s life outside F1 from height to girlfriend
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But Piastri’s race-ending crash in Azerbaijan and Norris’ first lap overtake in Singapore put the latter 10-8 in front for their Grand Prix results this season. The 22-point difference in the standings between the papaya pals favouring Piastri instead reflects Norris’ two retirements.
Norris crashed into Piastri during the Canadian Grand Prix and retired on the spot, which left the latter gaining 12 points in June. Also, Norris retired from the Dutch GP owing to a broken oil fitting in August, which allowed Piastri to gain a pivotal 25 points as he won at Zandvoort.
The points that Piastri gained on Norris at Zandvoort are potentially the most pivotal, as the latter gained six points back in Baku. So, McLaren may find it hard to agree with Steiner and make Piastri their priority for the F1 drivers’ title when Norris has been a match on average.