McLaren have been warn♌ed that they face a mighty challenge keeping both oꦏf their drivers happy with team orders.

Oscar Piastri led Lando Norris for a McLaren 1-2 finish to highlight the team’s superiority at last weekend’s F1 Chinese Grand Prix.

168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Lando Norris sits top of the drivers’ championsh൩ip while reigning champions McLaren lead the constructors’ again.

But the team were spared an awkward team order situation in China because Norris was dealing with a brake pedal issue, meaning he could not catch 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Oscar Piastri anyway.

Piastri’s win allowed him to strike back at Norris, who won the first grand prix of 2025 in Austr💎alia, when Piastri spun out in wet conditions.

“♏I think Oscar was incredibly frustrated with how Melbourne played out, in terms of the rain shower and in terms of being given 𓆏a team order in the first race of the year,” commentator Alex Jacques told the F1 Nation podcast.

“The only answer whe𒐪n things are so close, whe♉n your team appears to have the fastest car, is to turn up and take pole position, then romp off into the distance.

“He wasn’t challenged at any point of that race.

“It was very💜, very impressive. I see why he is satisfied.

“There wasn’t much of a celebration from him, was there? The💫 reason there wasn’t much of a celebra✱tion is because he knows this will be an extreme test of a driver in just his third season. But he has a legitimate shot at winning the world championship.

“Could we have said that at the start o✨f the [Chinese Grand Prix] weekend? He is very quick and is a proven grand pri𝔍x winner.

“This is a guy who was absolutely mullered in qualifying against Lando Norris last year. 20-4 Norris as ꦿthe lead car.

“But he to♛ok pole and converted it pretty easily. Game on, at the f﷽ront…”

McLaren No1 driver debate set to rage on

Laura Winter a♛greed that Piastri’s early victory in China was an important sign to McLaren bosses that Norris must not auto♚matically be prioritised as their No1 driver.

“Hugely,” she said. “Last year in the latter ♚s😼tages, they said outright ‘we are biasing towards Norris’.

“Even at a point when the gap from Lando to Max was only ꦓslightly bigger than the gap from Lando 🌳to Oscar.

“We are now in a situation 🀅where the No1 driver has to announce themseꦇlves.

“Zak Brown says they have two No1 drivers, they have two guys that can win. He also admitted it wasn't the worst thing that Lando had to back off, because ofꦆ a brake pedal issue, because it meant t🎃hat they didn’t have to issue any team orders. They didn’t have to ensure that Lando and Oscar tangled.

“They got awa♔y with what could have been some more spicy radio messages.”

Jacques warned: “It can deny you a world 🍃championship. It can blow up like it did between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes.

“In 2007, Fernando Alonso and𓆏 Hamilton took points off each othe🍸r, and Kimi Raikkonen sneaked in.

“The hope of the rest of the grid is that the McLareꦑn drivers take points off each other, and it remains competitive as a result.”

He insisted that McLaren strategists and team bosses will face some very diffꦓicult decision-making because of Norris and Piastri’s excellence in their car.

“Extreme difficulty, lik꧑e every team who has had two great drivers in the past,” Jacques said.

“Zak took on 𒈔Lando’s career, and helped get him to McLaren, before he was in charge. Oscar has a brillia🥀nt management team around him.

“Oscar has clearly taken another step.𝔉 Lando is rapid. They have got a problem🍎 to manage.

“But you don’t sign him 👍up to a massive contract if you expect him to play a second driver role.”

💟Piastri was signed up ꦐa multi-year new contract on the eve of the 2025 season, which the Daily Mail reported gave him parity with Norris’ £20m-per-season terms.

The F1 Japanese Gran🃏d Prix is next week and gives McLaren another chance💜 to edge ahead of their competition.