Lewis Hamilton has urged McLaren duo Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to be “cutthroat” in their approach to fighting Max Verstappen throughout the remainder of the Formula 1 campaign.
Norris and Piastri have been engaged in their own intra-team title battle throughout 2025, with Verstappen making cameo appearances in his usual centre stage position at the top of the podium.
But after the resumption of F1 after its summer break, the Dutchman has amassed a nigh-on incredible 111 points in those five races, with three wins and two second places.
The Red Bull man has therefore chipped away significantly at the pair’s advantages at the top of the Drivers’ standings, to leave him just 40 and 26 points behind respectively.
McLaren has insisted it will leave the pair to fight it out between themselves and Verstappen, with many wondering if, for safety’s sake, the Woking-based squad could or should prioritise one driver over the other in order to nullify the Verstappen threat.
Hamilton has weighed in on the situation, too, speaking from experience of having endured a year-long fight with Verstappen for a Drivers’ title.
“You really have to be cutthroat,” the Ferrari driver told F1TV ahead of this weekend’s Mexico City Grand Prix. “That’s what Max is. He’s going to take this from them if they don’t do the same.
“They’ve got to be pushing and they’ve got to dig deep to be able to, firstly, hold off someone like Max and the car that he’s in at the moment.
“But also, for either of them to come out ahead, consistency is key and you’ve seen that from Max in the last few races.”
Hamilton advises McLaren pair to ‘put their blinkers up’
Hamilton has the additional experience of being a driver in a team that has both men fighting for the Championship, and ultimately lose out to the dark horse.
In 2007, Hamilton, in his rookie year, was intertwined in a fraught battle with team-mate Fernando Alonso at McLaren, and eventually saw both men lose out to Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.
The seven-time World Champion has advised the Brit and the Australian to ignore the noise out of the Woking-based squad’s bubble and think about themselves.
“It’s challenging when you’re in the team, the pressure is high,” he said. “It’s definitely a time where you have to put your blinkers up, you have to block absolutely everything from the outside because there’s so much coming in, positive and negative.”
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