Mario Andretti has warned McLaren they will need to make a critical decision by the midway point of the season if they hope to win the Drivers’ Championship.

With the Woking team the title favourites, many have urged them to prioritise one driver but for now, McLaren insist both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are on equal footing.

McLaren urged to make title call between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri

That mantra, dubbed ‘papaya rules’ by the team, cost Norris last season in his battle against Max Verstappen and Zak Brown and Andrea Stella have now been warned they must soon make a choice of which driver is most likely to be a success.

“When you have two capable winners in the same team, where do you go from there?” Mario Andretti said on the Beyond the Grid podcast.

“Only one can win. We’ve seen that in 1973 with Emerson Fittipaldi and Ronnie Peterson taking points away from each other and neither won the championship.

“I think the only way to deal with that is you have to keep it open until mid-season, then whoever is leading points mid-season, that’s the one that is number one. Then the other one has to relinquish and help.

“It’s a wonderful place to be, but at the same time, there will be a critical decision to be made at some point. I wouldn’t want to be the one to make that decision.”

Brown has previously stated that it is “inevitable’ his two drivers will come together at some point but suggested it was how the pair and the team dealt with that which is most important.

“I think it’s definitely a matter of when, rather than if,” Brown told Sky Sports ahead of this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix.

“You have two racing drivers, whether in the same team or a different team, that are next to each other for 24 races, someone’s going to lock a brake.

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“So I’m kind of looking forward to getting it over with because I don’t think it’s going to be anywhere near as exciting as everybody thinks.

“I think it will be a racing incident when that day comes. I think it’s inevitable.

“They’re two great characters. Neither of them are hotheads, so we’re not worried about it, and to a certain extent, kind of looking forward to just getting it out of the way.”

Heading into the seventh race of the season, Piastri leads the championship, 16 points ahead of his team-mate.

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