McLaren has been warned that the strength in its Formula 1 driver line-up could give it “the biggest problem” of all the top teams this year.
Renowned TV pundit Martin Brundle has suggested that the Woking squad’s driver pairing of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri might be a deciding factor on how the Drivers’ Championship may end up.
McLaren is expected to be one of the frontrunners for this year, having taken the Constructors’ Championship in 2024, its first in 26 years, with Norris taking second in the Drivers’ behind Max Verstappen, with Piastri in fourth.
But Brundle, speaking to Sky Sports News, has suggested that teams such as Red Bull – which focuses its attention predominantly on Verstappen – might carry an advantage as a result.
“I think it’s very brave to write anybody off or write anybody into a championship-winning position,” he said.
“I think it’s different for McLaren a little bit because they’ve got two drivers who could take points off each other. Ferrari, that could well happen too.
“Max [Verstappen] and Red Bull, a one-horse race. We’ve got [Kimi] Antonelli in the Mercedes. He’s got a lot to learn, so Mercedes could be a one-horse race with George Russell, and I think that’ll play into their hands for the Drivers’ Championship.
“The Constructors’ Championship is a different deal, so I think McLaren has probably got the biggest challenge there.
“But if [Lewis] Hamilton and [Charles] Leclerc are close together, they’ll start stealing points off each other, and that is what will make the Drivers’ World Championship difficult.”
Will 2025 be the continuation or the end of the McLaren Papaya Rules?
2024 was the year F1 fans saw a new phrase enter its lexicon – papaya rules.
Coined during the season, the term essentially means that both McLarens can race each other, but, as Norris succinctly put it: “Just don’t crash. That’s all.”
The concept of papaya rules is one that plays into the ethos of McLaren in that it promotes intra-team racing, however, as Brundle explained, without team orders in play, the chance of letting a rival through to take points away from them is higher than it would be without it.
A notable example of this was 2007, when a rookie Lewis Hamilton disregarded any possibility of playing the obedient team-mate to Fernando Alonso at McLaren and battled him until the final round of the championship.
Ultimately, both men lost out to Kimi Raikkonen, who took the title at the final round in Brazil for Ferrari.
The 1990s saw a more successful approach, with David Coulthard often playing a support role to Mika Hakkinen as the Finn won back-to-back titles in 1998 and ’99.
CEO Zak Brown is a racer and wants to see his drivers race, but with the possibility of title glory beckoning, there may be a necessity to change the rules.
READ MORE – Red Bull: McLaren-style F1 gains ‘difficult with the tools available’
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