McLaren boss shares heartbreaking way Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri fight may be decided

McLaren boss Zak Brown believes that the title fight between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri could be decided by an unfortunate DNF at the hands of another driver. Just nine points separate the two team-mates heading into the final 10 rounds of the 2025 campaign. With the summer break in full swing, we are set up for a grandstand finish in the Formula One Drivers' Championship.

At the current rate of development, McLaren can be expected to score one-two finishes nearly every weekend - they've now notched four in a row - making it extremely difficult for either Norris or Piastri to eke out a substantial advantage. According to McLaren Racing CEO Brown, this means that the finer details will be what decides the champion, although the actions of Norris and Piastri's F1 rivals may also have a say. "It's going to come down to execution," he told The Race.

"It's clear, from a pace point of view, there's nothing in it. So, it's going to come down to consistency of execution, or it could come down to luck of the draw: weather, safety car, or one guy gets wiped out by someone else on the track."

All of the factors mentioned by Brown have affected the McLaren duo in the past 12 months. With the Constructors' Championship trophy on the line, Max Verstappen tagged Piastri into a spin on the opening lap of the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Had it not been for Norris' heroics, that incident would have swung the title fight in Ferrari's favour.

Then, in the 2025 season opener in Australia, rain disrupted what looked to be an assured one-two finish for McLaren, but only one driver lost out. Piastri's spot of off-roading dropped him from second, right behind his team-mate, to the fringes of the top-10. 13 races later, that small mishap looks heartbreakingly costly.

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Safety cars have also provided a slice of drama in 2025. At the British Grand Prix, Piastri was storming away from the field, but was later slapped with a 10-second time penalty for erratic driving behind the safety vehicle. This handed the race win to team-mate Norris on a silver platter.

Both McLaren drivers will hope that this mighty intra-team battle is settled on merit on the racetrack. Losing a title to the better racer is hard to take, but missing out on a shot at glory due to rivals' actions is the ultimate F1 heartbreak: Just ask Felipe Massa.

As long as Norris and Piastri can avoid a repeat of the gut-wrenching near-miss at the Canadian Grand Prix in June, only driver errors from rivals stand in the way of 2025's ding-dong battle being decided on merit in Abu Dhabi.