McLaren have to decide in the coming days whether fairness or success is their main priority as a thrilling 2025 Formula 1 campaign comes to an end.
Lando Norris goes into the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix knowing that a podium finish will be enough for him to win his first drivers’ championship.
Who stands in his way? Only four-time world champion Max Verstappen is in the form of his life, and McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri, who looked back to his best in Qatar.
Who is going to win the 2025 Formula 1 drivers’ championship?
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In the past, Formula 1 teams have imposed team orders to avoid losing out on a championship when it is potentially on the line.
Valtteri Bottas was the perfect teammate to Lewis Hamilton for years at Mercedes, and Sergio Perez supported Verstappen for four seasons at Red Bull.
Andrea Stella has insisted that Piastri won’t be asked to help Norris in Abu Dhabi, despite being 16 points worse off than his teammate.
However, McLaren CEO Zak Brown was far less sure when asked after a disastrous result in Qatar.
READ MORE: McLaren driver Oscar Piastri’s life outside F1 from height to girlfriend
Zak Brown says McLaren will ‘discuss internally’ Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri team orders
Brown was speaking to Lee McKenzie on Channel 4 at the end of the Qatar Grand Prix.
Stella and Brown stormed into the McLaren garage at the end of the race before admitting that not pitting with the rest of the field on lap seven was a deliberate choice, but ultimately the wrong one.
McKenzie asked: “Is it in your mind not giving an advantage to any driver?”
Brown responded: “I think we’ve got to go back and look at it. I don’t want to speculate while coming right off the pit wall. I’ve been pretty upset, as you can imagine.
“So, yeah, I don’t want to guess or speculate until we have time to properly debrief.”
Make one BOLD prediction for the 2025 season finale in Abu Dhabi!
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“You’ve said before that rather than back a driver, you’d rather that Max Verstappen won?” McKenzie mentioned, to which Brown said: “I don’t want to hand it to him. So I’d rather him earn it, and he did a great job, obviously, and they made the right decisions, and we didn’t.
“So, we’ve just got to come back fighting in Abu Dhabi.”
Finally, McKenzie brought up potential team orders in Abu Dhabi: “Would you be brave enough to ask Oscar to help Lando next weekend?”
Brown wouldn’t commit to a definitive answer and explained: “I think they’re both in the championship, so I think we’ve got to do a debrief here, but they’re both still very much in the championship.
“Lando’s leading it. We left a lot of points on the table there for Oscar, but we’ll discuss internally.
“But we’ve got two drivers capable of winning this championship, so that’s going to be our intention.”
READ MORE: Zak Brown’s Oscar Piastri interaction on the F1 grid suggests their relationship has been ‘damaged’
How Oscar Piastri can still win the 2025 Formula 1 drivers’ championship in Abu Dhabi?
Piastri is in the weakest position out of the three drivers who can still win the championship in Abu Dhabi.
Norris knows a podium is all he needs to achieve to become a world champion, while Verstappen will win a fifth consecutive title by winning the race with Norris not on the podium.
Oscar Piastri could become the first F1 driver to finish third in a championship with five or more wins
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The Australian driver needs a lot of help from Mercedes, Ferrari and any other team that can run a competitive car at the Yas Marina Circuit.
If Piastri wins the race, then Verstappen’s position is irrelevant, but Norris has to finish sixth or worse.
The 24-year-old can also win the title by finishing second, but Verstappen also has to be off the podium; however, Norris would only need to score two points in that scenario to wrap up the championship.
