McLaren urged to prioritise Oscar Piastri over Lando Norris in F1 title fight

McLaren have been advised to prioritise Oscar Piastri over teammate Lando Norris in the F1 title fight amid the potential threat posed by Max Verstappen.

Following the 2025 F1 Singapore Grand Prix, Piastri sits 22 points ahead of Norris with six rounds to go.

Verstappen is 63 points behind Piastri, but Red Bull’s recent improvement in form has put the Dutchman back in contention.

Verstappen has won two of the last three races, dominating at Monza and Baku.

The four-time world champion out-raced the two McLarens last time out in Singapore, evidence that the RB21 is now performing on all types of circuits.

With Verstappen a possible outside threat for the title, Guenther Steiner has suggested McLaren may need to back just one driver.

“I would say first of all, a fantastic job,” Steiner said on The Red Flags Podcast.

“But what they put on in Singapore, the show was not a world championship show. I mean, obviously, the car performance was good but with the drivers at some stage, either you have rules or you don’t have rules. Papaya rules, which nobody knows what they are, if they even exist, but you change them around and one day is like this.

“Either you let them race or if you’re getting worried to lose the world championship, you have to make the call, you have to tell one guy, and obviously that one guy is Oscar in the moment because he has got more points than Lando.

“I’m sorry, and it’s nothing against Lando. Oscar put himself in the first I don’t know two-thirds of the races in a better position.

“Now it’s you go and win the world championship because if they lose the drivers’ world championship now, I wouldn’t be happy. And then you have got two unhappy drivers, at least if you favour one, you’ve got only one unhappy driver.”

‘Papaya rules’ isn’t racing

Steiner has also criticised McLaren for their so-called ‘papaya rules’.

McLaren’s handling of their drivers has been heavily scrutinised following the Singapore GP.

This came as a result of Piastri’s complaints about Norris’ move at Turn 3 on the first lap.

Piastri had hoped that McLaren would intervene and force Norris to drop behind him, as the British driver required contact to complete the move.

Steiner believes McLaren’s involvement makes it “not racing anymore”.

“When Lando had the engine failure, why was that not taken into account? But Lando had a pit or two pitstop problems and all that stuff. So it’s becoming a calculation. It’s not racing anymore. And they took the racing element almost out of it.

“No, I don’t think so. It was at the start. It was hard racing. But obviously Oscar’s question came because of the past decisions which are taken before.”