Oscar Piastri Accepts Harsh Truth About Max Verstappen Threat to McLaren’s F1 Title Hopes

Formula 1’s 2025 season is shaping up to be one for the history books, with McLaren duo Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris dominating the grid while Red Bull’s Verstappen quietly lurks as a major title threat. Despite McLaren’s edge in performance and Piastri’s current points lead, the young Australian has made it clear: a late-season surge from Max Verstappen to steal the F1 drivers’ title would hurt — but he’d accept it.

Oscar Piastri leads the F1 title shot, addressing the growing chatter around a possible nightmare scenario reminiscent of F1’s legendary 1986 season, when intra-team rivalry at Williams allowed McLaren’s Alain Prost to snatch the drivers’ championship in the finale.

“It is a possibility, yes,” Piastri said, when asked about Verstappen potentially capitalizing on McLaren’s internal duel. “But on both sides of the garage here, we want to win because we’ve been the best driver, the best team — including against the other car in the team.”

The stats back up McLaren’s strength:  Oscar Piastri leads with five wins to Max Verstappen, who is behind with two, and currently leads the title race with 186 points, followed by Norris with 176. Verstappen, after a difficult Spanish GP, sits at 137 points, trailing by 49. Yet, with his relentless consistency and experience, the reigning world champion remains a dangerous contender.

Piastri insists McLaren is prioritizing fair racing above all else. “You always want to earn things on merit, and you want to be able to beat everyone — including your team-mate,” he explained. “For us, it’s the most straightforward, the fairest way of going racing and that’s what we’ve asked for.”

That philosophy could cost them. With no team orders in place, McLaren’s strategy risks a repeat of Williams’ costly 1986 intra-team conflict between Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet, which Prost exploited brilliantly.

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Still, Oscar Piastri’s stance is one of sportsmanship and integrity. “If we do get beaten by Max, of course, that would hurt,” he admitted. “But we would know that we both had the same opportunity, we were racing everybody out there, and that’s just how it panned out.”

 

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The remainder of the F1 calendar promises high drama as Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris, and Max Verstappen clash on and off the track for racing’s ultimate prize, the F1 Title. McLaren 2025 may be the fastest team this season, but as history has shown, the drivers’ championship isn’t always won by the fastest car.