Lando Norris has confirmed McLaren have a very clear “number one”, and that quite simply is the team.

Having secured the Constructors’ title last season, their first teams’ trophy since 1998, the Woking team is hunting the double in F1 2025.

Number one at McLaren? Lando Norris reveals the answer…

Such is the MCL39’s advantage over the chasing pack, they could also secure the 1-2 in the Drivers’ standings, which are the positions they hold today.

Oscar Piastri is leading the race but only by 10 points over his team-mate with momentum having swung between the McLaren team-mates throughout the opening nine races.

The team-mates are fighting to become McLaren’s first World Champion since Lewis Hamilton in 2008, the team’s 13th in its history, while for both it would be their maiden championship.

No one knows which way the pendulum could swing next, which has put McLaren in a position where they refuse to choose one driver over the other – even if it means losing the World title.

McLaren team-mates: F1 2025 head-to-head stats

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

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

“When you’ve got two drivers first and second in the championship and are separated by less than one second place finish, how do you possibly even consider standing one down into a supporting role? There’s just no way we will,” McLaren CEO Zak Brown told PlanetF1.com.

Team boss Andrea Stella, meanwhile, spoke of trusting the drivers to respect McLaren’s papaya rules, which summed up means race each other respectfully, give each other enough room, and don’t crash.

That’s because at the end of the day, there is only one “number one” at McLaren, and it’s not Norris nor Piastri. It’s McLaren.

“I’m employed by the team, and I have to drive and race for them,” Norris said in an interview with the BBC.

“As a number one, it is a constructor. That’s what we have to win in the end of the season. But then there’s the individual championship.

“Everyone’s seen plenty of championships as team-mates turn sour and go in the wrong direction. And that normally leads to many things, like a domino effect of things starting to fail. And that’s what we don’t want.

“We know we still want to race. We’re free to race against each other as individuals, but we also know our sole purpose is to race for McLaren, the team, the name we race under. And that’s something we’re both very proud of doing.”

So far, despite the huge prize up for grabs, the team-mates have adhered to the papaya rules, even when they’ve started alongside one another on the front of the grid.

Laughing, joking and the first to congratulate the other, the McLaren team-mates have shown no sign of the tension that blighted F1’s last big team-mate rivalry when Hamilton and Nico Rosberg went wheel-to-wheel for the title at Mercedes.

“I think it’s because I’m a great team-mate,” Norris said with a smile. “That’s not saying anything in the wrong way.

“Even though your team-mate’s always your biggest competitor, and the guy you want to beat and need to beat more than anyone, I’ve always wanted to have a good time, and have laughs and make jokes, and enjoy my life.

“That’s what I’m here to do at the end of the day, enjoy my life. And we want to do that together.

“We are different people, different characters, but both guys who know deep down we want to beat each other. But we also want to enjoy our journey.”

Read next: Major Ferrari development with team boss Vasseur ‘under scrutiny’ to save job