![\"Ecclestone](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/XPB_1357153_HiRes.jpg\")
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBernie Ecclestone believes McLaren wants Lando Norris to win the Championship due to better marketability. Image: XPB Images<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBernie Ecclestone believes McLaren wants Lando Norris to win the Championship due to better marketability. Image: XPB Images<\/p>\n
With four races remaining, Norris leads Piastri by just a single point in the standings after overturning a deficit of more than 30 points since the summer break.<\/p>\n
Ecclestone, the former F1 boss, has suggested that growing internal tensions \u2014 and possible favouritism \u2014 are weighing on the 24-year-old.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can tell Piastri is upset and tired of them, and the discussions about them are getting on his nerves,\u201d Ecclestone told sport.de.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe pressure is constantly increasing, and Piastri is frustrated that he can no longer win races so easily and that Norris is clearly being favoured within the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 95-year-old said it \u201clooks\u201d as though McLaren have favoured Norris in the second half of the season, despite Piastri appearing \u201cclearly faster\u201d earlier in the year.<\/p>\n
Ecclestone claimed the team had \u201cmore often slowed down the Australian using various methods\u201d, though he did not provide specific examples.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the season, Ecclestone had backed Piastri to win the championship, but now believed \u201csomething\u2019s holding him back.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the season started, I thought our Australian driver would be world champion,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought he would win easily but something\u2019s holding him back. I don\u2019t know what it is. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s McLaren holding him back or what.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a bit of a problem inside the team I understand where it looked very much they were favouring the British driver.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ecclestone added that he believed part of the team\u2019s preference stemmed from Norris\u2019 stronger public profile.<\/p>\n
\u201cMcLaren prefers the English driver Norris,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has more star power and marketing qualities for them, more camera presence and public exposure.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why it\u2019s probably better for McLaren.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ecclestone also suggested that Norris\u2019 comfort in the spotlight also played a role in McLaren\u2019s preference.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he would fall into the star quality more,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe likes the TV, he likes the camera, he likes whatever. I suspect the journalists [like him].<\/p>\n
\u201cI suppose that\u2019s better for McLaren.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite McLaren\u2019s recent success, Ecclestone still tipped Max Verstappen to snatch the title away from both.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Max will win and do it again!\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has that special something, that extraordinary quality. And the next race is Brazil \u2014 the weather is changeable, with rain too. Verstappen will do well there.<\/p>\n
\u201cVerstappen is special, the best racer, not a politician, but a real racing driver.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bernie Ecclestone believes McLaren wants Lando Norris to win the Championship due to better marketability. Image: XPB Images…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263424,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,2061,817,813,816,1737,913,2333,22708,7499,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-263423","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-bernie-ecclestone","11":"tag-f1","12":"tag-formula-1","13":"tag-formula1","14":"tag-lando-norris","15":"tag-mclaren","16":"tag-oscar-piastri","17":"tag-slot1_f1","18":"tag-slot4","19":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}