Should McLaren now just let Norris and Piastri race with no rules?

Formula 1’s race for the drivers’ title took a dramatic twist at the Dutch Grand Prix on Sunday as Lando Norris retired and lost 25 points to race-winning McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri.

The gap between the duo now stands at 34 points with nine rounds of the season remaining, with the battle yet to have hit a fuse to trigger fireworks.

So should McLaren be unleashing its driver duo for a full-blooded battle to the end and allow them to race completely freely? Our writers debate.

Stuart Codling – F1 needs oomph in its narrative

Many people will of course say an unequivocal “no” but I’m going to say “yes”. And I know I’m not alone because at least one team principal has had a word in Andrea Stella’s shell-like to suggest it might be a good idea.
 
Andrea, sadly, is not sold.
 
But what F1 needs right now is a dose of oomph in its narrative because it’s clear Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri aren’t fighting on track – or at least, any heavy ordnance is being discharged into the air rather than at each other. The way they both upped their pace towards the end of their second stints during the Dutch GP gave a hint of how much pace they have in reserve.
 
The constructors’ championship is in the bag, barring an unfortunate succession of DNFs. Ferrari and Mercedes are being all “meh” about who finishes second, and rightly so. Red Bull Racing is still a one-driver team and much less of a pantomime now that Christian Horner has gone.
 
If Bernie Ecclestone were still holding F1’s reins he would have been doing his proverbial nut right now. You could imagine double or even triple points being put on offer at certain grands prix to prevent the final rounds from becoming tedious dead rubbers, as if F1 had somehow been crossed with Scrabble.
 
As the late Patrick Swayze’s character said in the seminal 1980s action flick Roadhouse: “Be nice, until the time comes to not be nice.”
 
What F1 needs right now is more petulant cap-tossing in the ‘green room’ between team-mates. Or we may as well just call it now and devote every press conference to matters arising from 2026 development – because that’s the way it’s going right now.

Oleg Karpov – Jeopardy for McLaren’s successful culture

Lando Norris, McLaren, Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo by: Andrea Diodato / NurPhoto via Getty Images

If you’re an outside watcher, the random F1 fan with no strong preferences for any driver, you’d wish one thing from McLaren, really – now, when it’s inevitable that the papaya team will clinch its second consecutive constructors’ title, it should just lift all internal rules of engagement for how Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris can fight each other.

More so, let the garage split into two camps, let them decide on their own strategies and simply “let it roll,” as Toto Wolff mentioned, admitting regrets about how he handled the Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg battle.

From a media perspective, that’s the way to go. It creates animosity, offers ground for drama, rivalry and controversy. There’s nothing better invented for the showbiz and entertainment world – and never will be. Two camps battling for the biggest prize is the ultimate billboard for any sporting contest.

Yet, if you’re Andrea Stella, it offers more than just a fight between his two drivers. It jeopardises the foundation on which McLaren’s recent success was built. The “team first” approach – the principles he talks about almost every weekend during his encounters with the media – is what made his team so dominant.

There’ll always be those who know better: he was advised on how to handle the team dynamics last year, when Lando Norris was chasing Max Verstappen. He won’t be short of opinions on how to manage the current campaign, with both Norris and Piastri fighting for the main prize. But as he stayed true to the principles that McLaren was built on then, he needs – and will – stay true to them now.

Because unleashing the drivers won’t only bring sparks and fireworks; it may damage the two drivers’ relationship too. Something that was so carefully and finely managed can easily be ruined by escalation – but the world won’t stop after 2025, even if it feels like a distant future now. McLaren will need their two drivers working together more than ever over the next few years to keep the trophies coming to Woking.

What happened in Zandvoort, knowing Stella, probably hurts him more than it hurts Norris. Because as a team leader, it’s his responsibility to apply the same culture in dealing with drivers – which means offering them equal chances in their fight. What happened last weekend clearly hampered Norris’ chances without him doing much wrong.

Yet it’s still not a reason to look for ways to “pay him back.” Not least because it’s thanks to McLaren that Norris (still) has the chance to fight for the world championship – and thanks to exactly the foundations that championship bid is built upon.