Lando Norris will head into this weekend’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola trailing his McLaren teammate, Oscar Piastri, by 16 points in the 2025 drivers’ championship.
The Briton opened an instant 23-point lead over the Australian back in round one, as Norris won while Piastri recovered to ninth place after spinning in the rain. But the momentum has moved to the other half of the McLaren garage since Melbourne to now let Piastri pull clear.
Piastri can also now become the first McLaren driver since Ayrton Senna in 1991 to win four Grands Prix in a row if he triumphs at Imola in Sunday’s Emilia Romagna GP. The 24-year-old has flipped the script in the championship standings with four wins this term to Norris’ one.
Norbert Haug warns McLaren against imposing team orders on Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri
But while the two McLaren racers are pulling clear of Red Bull star Max Verstappen in the F1 championship standings ahead of the Emilia Romagna GP, CEO Zak Brown is not keen to use team orders on Piastri and Norris while both have the chance to win their first title this year.
Brown has confirmed that McLaren will only pick a No1 driver once Piastri or Norris cannot win the 2025 F1 title, with team orders potentially then used to support the Woking outfit’s defence of the constructors’ title. And Norbert Haug thinks it is a ‘very good’ stance to hold.
READ MORE: Every error that cost Lando Norris points in his failed 2024 F1 title challenge
| Position | Drivers’ Championship | Points |
| 1 |
Oscar Piastri |
131 |
| 2 |
Lando Norris |
115 |
| 3 |
Max Verstappen |
99 |
| 4 |
George Russell |
93 |
| 5 |
Charles Leclerc |
53 |
| 6 |
Andrea Kimi Antonelli |
48 |
| 7 |
Lewis Hamilton |
41 |
Legendary Mercedes-Benz motorsport director Haug believes McLaren using team orders so early into the 2025 F1 season would be ‘short-sighted’. He also fears it would risk ruining not just Norris or Piastri’s mood as they try to become a champion, but also their mechanics’.
Haug told Sky Germany: “I think it’s very good that McLaren are sticking to the old tradition and letting the drivers race freely. I think it’s too short-sighted to set the course too early. That’s completely demotivating – not only for the driver, but also for the driver’s team.
“They work with two teams side-by-side, in parallel. One wants to beat the other as fairly as possible, and that’s the only way the team will advance in the long run. That’s why I’m an absolute advocate of free racing.”
McLaren botched imposing team orders in 2024 and are opposed to their usage in 2025
McLaren botched imposing team orders on Piastri and Norris over the 2024 F1 season when the latter emerged as the team’s more realistic title contender. But while they paid the price while trying to catch Verstappen last year, it is more likely to be an internal fight this season.
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Brown and team principal Andrea Stella may not have to put McLaren in the same spot they found themselves at the Hungaroring or Monza last year. They bungled their team orders in the 2024 Hungarian GP when Norris undercut Piastri for the lead of the race. McLaren also did not use team orders in the Italian GP when Piastri’s first-lap overtake cost Norris the win.
Yet Piastri now has a 32-point lead over four-time reigning champion Verstappen, who ranks third ahead of the Emilia Romagna GP at Imola. The Australian also set out his stall ahead of the 2025 season to avoid letting McLaren potentially impose team orders that favour Norris.
It is also now said that McLaren’s team order disaster in Hungary left a ‘sour’ taste for Piastri as it overshadowed the Melbourne native winning his first Formula 1 Grand Prix. So, Haug’s fears that team orders in 2025 can demoralise everyone at McLaren may hold more weight.
