McLaren criticised for ‘confusing’ their drivers with team orders in 2025 F1 title battle

1996 F1 world champion Damon Hill believes McLaren’s team orders have made it confusing for their two drivers in the title race.

Just one point separates Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri at the top of the F1 drivers’ championship heading into this weekend’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

The momentum is with Norris following his dominant win in Mexico City, finishing over 30 seconds ahead of Charles Leclerc.

Piastri has endured two difficult weekends, simply lacking pace relative to Norris. 

The Australian had a 34-point lead over Norris following the Dutch Grand Prix. 

However, mistakes and a lack of performance have put Piastri behind his teammate for the first time since Saudi Arabia.

McLaren have continued to intervene in a bid to keep the title fight fair between their two drivers. 

At the Italian Grand Prix, Piastri was ordered to let Norris back through following a slow pit stop for the latter.

McLaren’s ‘Papaya rules’ came under scrutiny in Singapore after an aggressive move on Lap 1 from Norris on Piastri. 

Norris was hit with “repercussions” at the next race in Austin. 

However, these were dropped after Piastri effectively caused the Lap 1 crash involving Norris, Nico Hulkenberg, and Fernando Alonso in the sprint race.

With the constructors’ title wrapped up, McLaren have insisted that Norris and Piastri are free to fight. 

Max Verstappen remains a threat in the title race, 36 points behind Norris with four rounds to go. 

Zak Brown and Andrea Stella have ruled out favouring one driver until it’s no longer mathematically possible for one of them to do so.

McLaren’s rules “confuse the drivers”

McLaren’s interventions have resulted in widespread criticism. 

Hill feels that team orders generally make things more complicated for any set of drivers, particularly in a title battle.

Speaking on Stay on Track, Hill said: “I think, again, it confuses people. I think it confuses the drivers. It confuses the team. It confuses people watching. They go: ‘What is going on?’

“I mean, there is a whole history of team orders being confusing to the fans. I mean, I can remember watching [the] Monaco Grand Prix with two McLarens and I can’t remember which one, it might have been Mika [Hakkinen] and David Coulthard.

“Anyway, they kind of… we thought they were racing, but it turned out afterwards they were just, they’d agreed not to overtake each other or race each other at the end. And I remember feeling a little bit cheated by that.”