Villeneuve: Contract prevents McLaren prioritising Norris over Piastri

It might not be Piastri himself, but with Mark Webber in his corner, the veteran manager would almost certainly have ensured that a clause was included in Oscar’s contract to prevent him from being cast in a supporting role to Norris – something Webber experienced all too often during his Red Bull days alongside Sebastian Vettel.

Whatever the case, Jacques Villeneuve claims that McLaren are contractually unable to favour either of their drivers. The 1997 Formula 1 World Champion suggested he had insight into the arrangement from either Team Piastri or McLaren.

Whatever the source, Villeneuve confirmed: “They cannot give Lando priority over Oscar because of the contract. He has a contract that protects him. As long as both drivers can win the Championship, there won’t be team orders unless there's something significantly big for the Constructors’ title or if one of them is having an issue in a race like last year.

“All that matters for McLaren is that they have a car right now that is easy to drive for both drivers, which means they can control the championship.”

Comparing the two drivers, Villeneuve said: “Lando always has issues with the front end. He always uses up his front tyres a little bit too much, and China is an understeer track that eats up the front tyres. He was always going to have a little bit more trouble on that track.”

Regarding how the two drivers might battle each other, Villeneuve ventured: “Now, because second or first is a big difference in points, it was important for Lando to go get as many points as possible and keep pushing, because he knows that Piastri, in the long run, will be a threat to his championship chances.

“The battle might just be between him and his teammate. That's always the most difficult – when your battle is against your teammate.”

Villeneuve believes Piastri had the upper hand all weekend in Shanghai: “Oscar was better under pressure than Lando in China. Lando was quicker the whole weekend, but whenever it counted, he made mistakes in qualifying that put him behind, and then because of that, he couldn't race as well.

“Piastri was more of a cool cat. He maximised his weekend. He had a good qualifying, a good start and then, as we saw, he did a good job in the lead. Lando was quick but he was behind and he overheated his brakes. Sometimes you don't need to be the quickest – you just need to have a better weekend, not make mistakes, and perform better under pressure," reckoned the 53-year-old Canadian.

Formula 1 history shows that teammates with race-winning, title-contending machinery often end up far from friendly – Hamilton-Rosberg, Verstappen-Sainz, Webber-Vettel, Alonso-Hamilton, Senna-Prost, Arnoux-Villeneuve (Gilles) and so on.

But Jacques believes things are different between Norris and Piastri: “It’s nothing like that. There was that issue between Alonso and Lewis, and it wasn't because they were both fighting for the championship.”

Villeneuve explained the Alonso-Hamilton feud at McLaren in 2007: “Alonso was signed because he was a two-time World Champion, and then they signed Lewis saying that Lewis was going to be their champion, and that put Alonso to one side. He got really upset, which is normal.

“That's where the issues stemmed from – not because they were fighting each other for the championship. That was political and created by the team boss, by the team owner.

“When that happens as a driver, especially when you're a double World Champion, you've been given the big contract to leave your other team with whom you were winning, and suddenly you're not the one they’re working with.

“They were openly saying that their future is Lewis Hamilton, so of course he was going to react. That's where the issue came from,” recalled Villeneuve.

Heading to the Japanese Grand Prix, Round 3 of the 2025 F1 World Championship. McLaren lead the Constructors' standings from Mercedes, while Norris tops the Drivers' points table with Piastri P4, only ten points adrift.