Patrese: McLaren should let Norris and Piastri fight freely

Patrese, the 1992 Formula 1 World Championship runner-up, praised Norris for bouncing back strongly after what he labelled a “rookie mistake” in Canada, suggesting the Briton’s resilience could prove crucial in the championship run-in against his McLaren teammate Piastri.

“If we think of what happened in Canada, you think this guy, Lando, cannot be world champion because he really made a mistake of a rookie driver,” said Patrese. “But since then, he has had two very good races. After his bad mistake, Lando could have been destroyed completely, but then he recovered very well. That is good to give more self-confidence, which is very important in this case.”

Patrese expects the intra-team fight at McLaren to continue without interference from management: “Now that Verstappen cannot win the championship, we will see a championship until the end with open fighting. They can determine their championship inside McLaren and we will see who is the strongest one. I don't think they will give priority to Lando or to Piastri. They will let them fight for the championship.”

While initially impressed by Piastri’s mental strength, Patrese acknowledged the Australian’s costly restart error at Silverstone: “He looked a bit stronger in his mind, not because of the speed, because Lando has fantastic speed. But even Piastri made a big mistake at Silverstone. You cannot slow down nearly to zero with 20 cars behind and bad visibility. That could have been a big safety issue.”

Looking ahead to the 2026 regulation reset, Patrese believes Mercedes could dominate again—if they repeat their power unit supremacy of the turbo-hybrid era: “If Mercedes are able to build the new programme as they did the last time from 2012 with Lewis Hamilton, with a power unit better than anyone else, they can have another golden era."

But Patrese also warned: “Otherwise, as in the past, we could again have years where Mercedes dominates. I hope Honda can do the job, that Ferrari can do the job. Hamilton was fantastic, in the same league as Senna and Schumacher.”

He added that Hamilton’s experience will be invaluable for Ferrari: “He worked with Mercedes for many years. Internally he can give the team the right advice—someone as experienced as Lewis can help the development of the car and the team.”