Can McLaren drivers avoid fallout amid F1 2025 title battle?

McLaren see no reason why Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris can’t remain friends despite engaging in an intra-team battle for the 2025 F1 world championship.

Piastri and Norris are split by 15 points in the drivers’ standings and appear to be in a two-horse race for this year’s world championship, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen 61 points behind.

The pair made contact while battling over fourth place in the late stages in Canada, leading to a retirement for Norris, who quickly took full blame for the incident to help McLaren quickly move on from the incident.

McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown has shrugged off concerns that Piastri and Norris will not be able to maintain their strong relationship as the F1 title fight hots up.

“I think the relationship they have is fantastic,” Brown told media including Crash.net.

"We’ve put a lot of time and effort into building our team and having a chemistry within the team, and that starts with the drivers.

“I think you saw how they handled Canada, how they've conducted themselves, and I see no reason why they can't have a big battle all the way to the end. May the best man win, and I'm sure they'll shake hands and congratulate each other.

"Obviously, both of them want to win, but I see no reason why, knowing the personalities and the way they race, that they can't remain very good team-mates.”

No change to McLaren’s rules of engagement

Norris impressively fended off Piastri to win last weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix and this time the duo managed to keep their race-long duel clean.

McLaren famously allow their drivers to race each other under their rules of engagement - known as ‘Papaya Rules’ - and Brown says the team have no intention to change the policy, regardless of their status in the championship.

The reigning world champions boast a huge 207-point lead over Ferrari in the constructors’ championship, giving them a healthy buffer to play with.

When asked if McLaren’s championship position will impact the team's rules of engagement, Brown replied: “No. It's the same rules.

“Race each other hard, race each other clean, and try and get as many points on the board for the team. Then it's up to them to decide who is in front of who.

“It was very exciting [in Austria],” Brown added. “It was a great race. They raced each other very hard, very clean. I think that's what everyone was looking forward to seeing – finally, that epic battle.

“Of course, anytime you have your two cars near each other, it's a bit of a nail-biter, but I thought they did a great job and it was a great race and it was good to see.”