Former Renault driver Jolyon Palmer believes Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris “can’t go on being nice” in their title battle this year, with the Briton predicting one of the McLaren duo to win the World Championship.

Piastri currently leads the Drivers’ standings by 10 points from his McLaren team-mate, the Australian having opened a 49-point gap to Max Verstappen in third place ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix.

Palmer: McLaren battle set for ‘down to the wire’ conclusion in F1 2025

In Spanish Grand Prix qualifying, Piastri quipped that Norris was “cheeky” in appearing to look to gain a slipstream from his team-mate along the pit straight, though he later explained that Norris’ tow was “just coincidence”, while the Briton did not believe his “short-lived” run made any difference in the outright lap time.

McLaren boss Zak Brown has maintained the team’s ‘let them race’ approach as both drivers have jostled for victory on multiple occasions this season, with both Norris and Piastri maintaining their off-track relationship in the process.

How the McLaren team-mates match up at this stage of F1 2025

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates

Palmer suggested the two main title protagonists will be looking for an upper hand within the team and, given how closely-matched they are, their battle could go “down to the wire.”

“I thought it was the first sign of them playing against each other,” Palmer said of Spanish Grand Prix qualifying on the F1 Nation podcast.

“Oscar came on the radio and said ‘cheeky’, and just immediately he knew what was going on, didn’t he, and he went to the inside and hit the brakes hard to give his teammate absolutely nothing.

“It was the first time that, you know, they’re actively trying to hinder one another, really. Of course, it made sense for Oscar to do that.

“They’ve still been quite nice, they’re still good team-mates, but it cannot go on when now that, in my belief, one of them will be champion.

“They have to start withholding a bit of info from the other, making sure that when it all comes down on Saturday, they have the last tenth in the bag, and they’re not showing maybe all their hand on a Friday, and they are getting their elbows out more with each other on a Sunday.

“They can’t go on being nice, and I think Saturday at Barca was the sign of Lando trying to do something a little bit cheeky.

“They’re fighting for a title,” he added.

They’re fighting for McLaren supremacy, if not the title, but it’s a Formula 1 World Championship. Neither of them have won one.

“They’re both desperate to show that they’re still the main man for McLaren. This is what this is what you start doing Formula 1 for. This is what you start doing go karting for, to be a Formula 1 World Champion – and they have gilt-edged chances this year.

“They have a team-mate that is so evenly matched that I don’t see this being a Hamilton-Bottas [dynamic], or even a Verstappen-Perez, [whereby] for a few races, they’re close and then the champion becomes the champion by five races to go.

“It has to go down to the wire with how closely-matched they are, and it can’t be friendly the whole way through.”

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