McLaren F1 rivalry tipped to “explode” as title race intensifies

Ex-F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya expects McLaren’s intra-team rivalry to “explode” as this year’s title race nears its conclusion.

Heading into next weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix, just nine points separate Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris at the top of the drivers’ championship.

The McLaren battle has remained mostly civil, with the pair coming to blows at the Canadian Grand Prix.

Tensions didn’t escalate as Norris immediately owned up to the incident and took full blame.

With Max Verstappen now out of contention and McLaren on course to potentially win the constructors’ championship in Baku next month, Piastri and Norris will likely be free to race each other harder.

Montoya remains convinced that Piastri and Norris will come to blows again with potentially devastating consequences.

“The way that McLaren is running with the two guys and they are in harmony in the team, would you bring Max as a disruption to that team?” Montoya told Coin Poker.

“Toto Wolff at Mercedes is a guy who wants to win whatever the cost.

“I think Toto is a different kind of racer than the McLaren group. The McLaren group is in a groove, it's peace and love and everybody's happy and we're best friends and we hold hands when we go racing together.

“But if I was a betting person, there's going to be an explosion at McLaren at some stage.

“It is a world championship they are fighting for. When was the last time McLaren had a world champion? 2008 with Lewis.

“They have the constructors' in the bag. And they want to let the drivers race. And they want to see fair racing.

“The big thing about McLaren of today is that they give their drivers freedom and they are being very fair in the way they are managing them. Back in the day when I was there, it was all very controlling.”

The McLarens nearly collided in Hungary as Piastri tried an ambitious overtake into Turn 1.

Montoya is adamant Piastri will push the boundaries if the title race goes down to the wire.

“The question for me is sooner or later they are going to end up crashing. You are going to get to the situation where because they are so close in points every position will matter. It will get to the point where you will be better off crashing your team-mate rather than losing the points to win a Championship,” he added.

“When we come to the last few races, and one guy is five points ahead and he passes you, and it means a swing in points, somebody is going to do something crazy.

“It doesn’t how good the relationship is or might be, this is one rare opportunity that they will have of being World Champion.

“But let's say you're Oscar and you have a 10 point advantage going into the last two rounds. And  Lando beats you, or is ahead of you in Qatar and you get a shot at passing him, how aggressive are you going to be on that overtake?

“You are going to go 100%, either I come out ahead or we crash. Let's say Lando was behind and is about to win the title if he wins the last race, do you think Oscar is going to race him clean?

“There's no f**king way.”