With McLaren remaining tight-lipped over what the \u201crepercussions\u201d coming the way of Lando Norris entail, Martin Brundle offered his verdict on what they may be.<\/p>\n
Pointing to sanctions such as being required to provide the slipstream to teammate Oscar Piastri, Brundle stressed that McLaren will make sure that the measures faced by Norris<\/a> do not impact the team against rivals. Brundle also warned that the competitive juices means a \u201cdoomed to fail\u201d scenario for the Norris and Piastri harmony.<\/p>\n Lando Norris repercussions: Martin Brundle suggests McLaren options<\/p>\n On the eve of the United States Grand Prix, Norris revealed that he is facing \u201crepercussions\u201d at McLaren which will last until \u201cthe end of the season\u201d, after banging wheels with teammate Piastri on the opening lap of the Singapore Grand Prix.<\/p>\n What those repercussions are, is the great mystery, though McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown offered some hints amid the McLaren secrecy.<\/p>\n \u201cWe set out at the beginning of the year how we want to race and how we want to race each other, and the papaya rules, which everyone likes to talk about, is pretty much one rule: don\u2019t touch each other and don\u2019t run each other off the track,\u201d said Brown as he spoke in the team bosses press conference.<\/p>\n \u201cSo it\u2019s quite simple, and it\u2019s kind of taken on a life of its own. We just want to make sure that, while they\u2019re racing hard, they don\u2019t come together.<\/p>\n \u201cThat puts them at risk, puts the team at risk, and so we agreed with them in the offseason how we would handle certain situations. We worked with them with different consequences for different situations.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a pretty minor situation, so it\u2019s a pretty minor consequence.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked to shed some light on what that \u201cconsequence\u201d for Norris may be, Brown replied: \u201cNo, we don\u2019t want to get into that. I think it\u2019s private business between us.\u201d<\/p>\n Brundle, appearing as a pundit for Sky F1, offered some hints of his own.<\/p>\n \u201cClearly, whatever they\u2019re going to do, will be inside the team and won\u2019t affect the team against others,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s sort of slightly odd here, because I think what McLaren are doing is actually, for the sport, very good. They can race from lights out to the chequered flag with one proviso: don\u2019t run into each other. And there are then, obviously, these consequences it\u2019s going to be.<\/p>\n \u201cNow, if that hadn\u2019t have been Piastri alongside him, the team would have cheered those first few corners for Lando. They were actually brilliantly driven. He happened to just touch his teammate.<\/p>\n \u201cBut, if we were in a development race, I think it would be, for example, Oscar would get the new parts first, something like that. Or if it\u2019s a slipstream track, we need a slipstream in qualifying, Oscar would get priority on that. It will be that kind of inter-team thing that doesn\u2019t hand any advantage to other teams.\u201d<\/p>\n Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris head-to-head in F1 2025<\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates<\/a><\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates<\/a><\/p>\n McLaren has committed to creating as fairer playing field as possible for Piastri and Norris in their battle for Drivers\u2019 Championship<\/a> glory.<\/p>\n It is a partnership which has remained very harmonious considering the stakes, but as the season draws closer to its conclusion, and Max Verstappen in an improved Red Bull RB21 grows more threatening, Brundle believes Singapore is a sign of things to come between Piastri and Norris.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a championship to be won, and they\u2019ve both got a fantastic car at McLaren,\u201d said Brundle.<\/p>\n \u201cMax is appearing in the rear view mirrors quite quickly as well in the last few races.<\/p>\n \u201cIn many respects, this setup, is doomed to fail. You\u2019ve got two supremely competitive athletes working in a team environment. It\u2019s always going to go wrong. It\u2019s just a question of how the teams handle it.\u201d<\/p>\n Norris goes into the United States 22 points behind teammate and Championship leader Piastri.<\/p>\n