Piastri: McLaren not biased to Norris, will let us fight for F1 title

Oscar Piastri says he doesn't believe McLaren is favouring his team-mate Lando Norris in their 2025 Formula 1 title fight, nor does he want to receive priority as the championship leader.

Piastri is heading into the final six-race stretch with a 22-point lead on Norris, with reigning champion Max Verstappen now 63 points behind after consistently gaining on the pair over the last three weekends.

After winning in Italy and Azerbaijan, Verstappen also gained points in Singapore by finishing second behind winner George Russell. Meanwhile, Norris kept Piastri off the podium after passing the Australian bold Turn 3 move which led to contact between the pair, which was initiated by Norris tapping the rear wheel of Verstappen.

The incident didn't lead to damage for Piastri, but with contact between team-mates a cardinal sin, he voiced his displeasure at McLaren not taking action during the race, and it also drew public attention away from McLaren securing its second consecutive constructors' title with six race weekends to spare.

The collision has since been reviewed within the team, with Norris accepting responsibility for causing contact. But according to Piastri, McLaren's in-race decision to let Norris keep the position doesn't mean the Woking-based squad is favouring Norris over him, as has been sometimes suggested.

"Yes, I'm very happy with that," Piastri said in Austin ahead of this weekend's United States Grand Prix. "We analysed the incident. There has been responsibility placed on Lando, ultimately, in that collision. But I'm very happy that there's no favouritism or bias."

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images

"We had a lot of discussions, as you would expect. Very productive. I think we're very clear on how we want to go racing as a team. The incident we had in Singapore isn't how we want to go racing. Lando has taken responsibility for that, and so has the team. I think it's quite clear for us as a team that how lap one unfolded wasn't how we want to go racing."

But McLaren's post-weekend stance of holding Norris accountable for the clash is a change of tune compared to its analysis in the heat of the battle, when it decided to leave things as they were. So was Piastri right in suggesting Norris should have let him past?

"In a live situation, it's very difficult to analyse that," Piastri pointed out. "Assessing whether swapping would have been the right thing to do in that scenario is very tough. We talked through it out of the heat of the moment and discussed what happened with a few more points of data and stuff like that.

"Ultimately, I don't think you can really say what would have been fair to do in the race. I would say I'm not expecting it to be redressed on track any time or every time. But ultimately, we know how we're expected to go racing and if we don't, there's consequences for that."

That McLaren verdict left Piastri satisfied he and Norris could continue racing as they were to close out their 2025 title battle. And despite the spectre of a Verstappen comeback while he and Norris take points off each other, Piastri doesn't feel like he now needs to receive priority either.

"I don't think so, no. I think every driver wants a fair chance to try and win a championship," the 24-year-old said. "For me, it's more than fair to let us both keep fighting for that. So, no, I don't think that's the approach we should take.

"I don't think what happened was purposeful, I think it was just a slight misjudgement. I'm not going to change anything in how I go racing."