McLaren head into the midway point of the season with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris now the clear favourites for the title.
Norris came into the Spanish Grand Prix off the back of a dominant victory in Monaco, which put him within five points of Piastri, but that has now increased to 10 points with the Australian’s recent victory.
Max Verstappen has dismissed his chances of retaining a fifth title in a row, after the Red Bull driver was demoted to 10th place following a penalty and is now close to a one-race ban.
As we enter the business end of the season in Europe, attention has turned to how well McLaren copes with having two championship rivals in their team.
Previous history at that team suggests it will end in disaster, but McLaren have introduced ‘Papaya rules’ which give clear guidelines for their drivers when it comes to wheel-to-wheel combat. So far, it has worked, but there could be another factor out of their control that influences the title battle.
McLaren could be affected by Mercedes reliability issues
Although Spain was the scene of another McLaren masterclass in the wake of a Verstappen tantrum, it was all kick-started by a concerning retirement from Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
It was the third weekend in a row that a Mercedes power unit has caused a retirement, after Antonelli stopped in Imola and Fernando Alonso was forced to retire from the points in Monaco.
Discussing it on the F1 Nation podcast, journalists Tom Clarkson and Jesus Balseiro highlighted how this could impact McLaren.
Clarkson: “Is there a rogue issue going on in those PU’s that could somehow stop the McLaren’s down the road and have a huge influence in the World Championship?”
Balseiro: “It could be related, from what I’ve heard, that what Fernando [Alonso] had in Monaco looks similar to what Kimi had this time in Barcelona. It’s now affecting McLaren so far, but also Fernando was pointing out that he was missing some straight-line speed during the weekend.
“It’s really a point to consider for this summer part of the season, where everywhere is hot, where the races are longer, where temperatures are way higher and may be relevant for the championship fight as well.
“Not because McLaren is having any contender which is not a Mercedes engine but because we know from the past that if one of the two drivers has reliability issues, talking about the McLaren drivers, they can open a big gap on the championship compared to race by race differences.”
How poor reliability can cost F1 World Championships
McLaren have not been impacted by any reliability concerns so far this season, but the implications of a retirement in an intra-team title battle could have big consequences on either Norris or Piastri’s title hopes.
Going back to the 2016 season, Nico Rosberg won the championship after outscoring Lewis Hamilton by five points.
| Category | Lando Norris | Oscar Piastri |
| 2025 points | 176 | 186 |
| Grand Prix results | 4 | 5 |
| Grand Prix qualifying | 4 | 5 |
| Grand Prix wins | 2 | 5 |
| Grand Prix poles | 2 | 4 |
| Grand Prix podiums | 9 | 9 |
| Best finish | 1st | 1st |
| Retirements | 0 | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 5 | 2 |
| Grand Prix points finishes | 9 | 9 |
| Sprint results | 1 | 1 |
| Sprint Qualifying | 0 | 2 |
| Sprint wins | 1 | 0 |
| Sprint poles | 0 | 0 |
| Sprint podiums | 1 | 2 |
Although both drivers suffered a retirement after crashing into each other at the Spanish GP that year, it was Hamilton who later suffered a reliability problem in Malaysia and was forced to retire.
Rosberg finished third in that race, and it was just enough to hold on to a points advantage heading into the final races of the season. A similar scenario could play out at McLaren if either driver suffers any reliability problems later in the season.
