Lando Norris v Oscar Piastri "bad blood" prevention plan explained by McLaren

McLaren says it will intervene early if it notices tensions flaring up between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, as it remains confident  it can keep their intra-team rivalry in Formula 1 from getting out of hand.

With McLaren facing limited competition from its rivals in the 2025 title race, there are concerns that Norris and Piastri could follow the same path as other teammates who fell out while fighting for a championship.

The McLaren duo were already involved in a collision in the closing stages of the Canadian Grand Prix, although there was no friction between the pair in the aftermath of the race, with Norris taking full responsibility for the incident.

However, with Norris bouncing back strongly from earlier setbacks to claim three wins in four races, their title battle is expected to intensify in the second half of the season after the summer break.

McLaren to prevent Lando Norris v Oscar Piastri fallout

But McLaren already has a plan of action to avoid a fallout between its drivers, with CEO Zak Brown revealing that his team will act proactively before any potential issues spiral out of control.

"If something bubbles up, we'll deal with it," Brown was quoted by the BBC. "And how we operate, which is [in] an open, transparent, deal with it right away [manner].

"It seems like from the outside looking in, when you've seen battles between other team-mates, you've kind of seen it brewing, and you kind of go like 'have they jumped on that, or are they just kind of letting it build up?'

"We'll take the air out of the balloon right away, if we feel like anything's bubbling up, but we've not seen any of it."

Brown is confident there won’t be a complete breakdown in the relationship between Norris and Piastri due to the ethos McLaren has established within its team members.

"I don't think they'll properly fall out because of the communication, trust and respect we all have, and they have for each other,” he said.

"We're very fortunate to have the two personalities that we have. We love the challenge. I'm looking forward to them racing each other."

He added: "I'm positive they're never going to run each other off the track, and that's where you get into bad blood."

Brown expects tension to build up between the pair during the title run-in, he pointed to the Canadian GP as proof that McLaren can successfully handle any flashpoints between its drivers.

"I've said to both of them individually, at windows of opportunity, has your team-mate ever done anything to annoy you? 'Never'. And that's what they both said," Brown added.

"So there's competitiveness brewing. We're not feeling any tension. As the championship builds

"I'm sure that tension will grow, but like Montreal - I'm glad we got it out of the way, because it was a non-event, Lando owned it, Oscar understood, it was a mistake."