Former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone believes that McLaren view Lando Norris as the ‘better champion’ for their team. The 94-year-old also touched on a ‘problem’ with perceived favouritism of the Brit within the organisation.
Norris and team-mate Oscar Piastri are separated by just one point heading into the Brazilian Grand Prix this weekend after the Brit snatched back control of the World Championship with a dominant victory in Mexico City. That was his first since Silverstone in July, and marked the latest blow for McLaren’s Australian racer.
After all, Piastri was leading the World Championship by 34 points after clinching his seventh Grand Prix victory of the year in Zandvoort. Since then, he has been outscored by rivals Norris and Max Verstappen in each of the last five race weekends, and his title advantage has disintegrated.
Despite McLaren’s unwavering commitment to creating fair and equal opportunities for their drivers through the ‘Papaya Rules’ system, some onlookers have suggested that the odds are stacked against Piastri. These theories are related to incidents such as those in Hungary and Monza, where the Australian was forced to give positions back to his team-mate.
Assessing the intra-team title fight, Ecclestone told sport.de: “When the season started, I thought the Australian driver would be world champion. I thought he’d win easy, but something’s holding him back.
“I don’t know what it is. I don’t know whether it’s McLaren holding him back or what. There was a bit of a problem with inside the team, I understand, where it looked very much like they were favouring the British driver.”
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Ecclestone continued: “I think he would fall into the star quality more. I think from that point of view, he would act better. I think he likes the television, likes the camera, likes to speak to journalists. So, I suppose that’s better for McLaren.”
While Ecclestone believes that McLaren see Norris as a star, the 25-year-old is not his pick for the World Championship title. Instead, he believes that Verstappen, who is 36 points behind the Brit with four Grands Prix and two sprint races left to go, is the clear favourite.
“There’s no doubt about that,” he declared. “The car is super. They’ve done a good job with the car. But Max is a little bit special. He’s a race driver. He gets on with what he’s supposed to be doing. He’s not political, he’s just a race driver.”
