Nov.5 (GMM) Former Formula 1 chief Bernie Ecclestone believes McLaren has tilted its support toward Lando Norris in the second half of the season – at the expense of teammate Oscar Piastri.
“Yes, that’s how it looks,” the 95-year-old told RTL.
Ecclestone said Piastri was “clearly faster” at the beginning of the season, but claimed the Australian has recently been “slowed down using various methods”.
“McLaren prefers the English driver Norris. He has more star power and marketing qualities for them, more camera presence and public exposure. That’s why it’s probably better for McLaren,” Ecclestone added.
He also criticised McLaren’s so-called Papaya Rules, saying they were hurting Piastri. “You can tell Piastri is upset and tired of them, and the discussions about them are getting on his nerves.
“The 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.”
However, Ecclestone still expects Max Verstappen to beat both McLaren drivers to the title. “He has that special something, that extraordinary quality. And the next race is Brazil, the weather is changeable, with rain too. Verstappen will do well there,” he said.
“The McLaren drivers are good, their car is super – but Verstappen is special, the best racer, not a politician, but a real racing driver.”
Former driver Ralf Schumacher disagrees, calling the claims of favouritism “nonsense”. “At the beginning of the year, Piastri was clearly the better driver. That’s changed somewhat,” he told Sky Deutschland.
“McLaren isn’t as dominant anymore, and Piastri made a few mistakes. That’s human nature – it happens,” he told Sky Deutschland.
“What interest would anyone within the team have in working against Piastri? Ideally, McLaren would produce both the world champion and the vice-world champion. Then everything would be perfect. I’ve known Zak Brown for a long time – he’s professional enough.”
Schumacher suggested that Piastri’s doubts may instead stem from his management. “I believe the bigger problem is that Mark Webber was himself passed over by Red Bull at the time. The aftermath of that is undermining the peace at McLaren.”
Former Alpha Tauri boss Franz Tost also backed Piastri.
“Even last year, Piastri had problems in Austin, Singapore, and Mexico. One thing shouldn’t be forgotten – he still has far less experience than his teammate Norris,” he told f1-insider.com.
“He is only one point behind Norris. To write him off would be a huge mistake. Also because I consider him mentally stronger than Norris.”
But Jacques Villeneuve thinks Piastri may already have hit his ceiling. “At the start of the season, we didn’t have a particularly fantastic Lando, not the Lando we had at the end of last year,” the 1997 world champion told Sky.
“And we kept saying, ‘Oh, that’s because Piastri has improved, he’s now at Lando’s level and even faster.’ But was it really Piastri who improved, or was it Lando who simply wasn’t in form?”
Villeneuve believes Norris has since rediscovered his edge. “Lando is driving faster and better than ever before this season. Piastri didn’t improve. He was already at his limit,” he said.
“When you have to give those extra two tenths, you suddenly discover problems with the car that weren’t there before – you start to doubt your driving, you look at the data and say, ‘Oh, my teammate is a tenth faster in this corner,’ and then it goes wrong.”
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