McLaren head into the 2025 Formula 1 season as Constructors’ champions for the first time in 25 years, but that doesn’t mean retaining the title is going to be easy.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri made a strong claim to be the strongest driver pairing on the grid last year after guiding McLaren to their first title win since 1999.
It went down to the wire, with team principal Andrea Stella and CEO Zak Brown knowing they needed to win the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to guarantee that the trophy was heading back to Woking.
They would have had their hearts in their mouths when they saw Piastri’s car facing the wrong direction at the first corner when he was spun by Max Verstappen.
However, Norris drove the perfect race and despite being joined on the podium by both Ferrari drivers, McLaren had done enough across 24 Grand Prix and six Sprint Races to pick up the trophy at the FIA’s prize-giving ceremony in Rwanda.
The question for McLaren now is how do they replicate that success in 2025.
Brown expects Piastri and Norris to tangle at some point but for McLaren to win another championship they need to be pulling in the same direction.
That doesn’t just include their actions on the track but off it as well.
In an interview with Autosport, Piastri spoke about the development of next year’s car.
The grid is expected to converge even more in 2025 but Piastri believes he and Norris have a distinct advantage over their nearest rivals.
Oscar Piastri says he works ‘very well’ with Lando Norris on McLaren car development
This generation of ground-effect cars has benefitted the driving style of some racers but hampered others.
Daniel Ricciardo and Sergio Perez didn’t have the best time at RB and Red Bull respectively, while even Lewis Hamilton struggled to get to grips with Mercedes’ last few cars.
READ MORE: McLaren driver Lando Norris’ life outside F1 from parents to celebration
Asked why his partnership with Norris has worked so well, Piastri said: “I think part of why we’ve had so much success in going forward is that Lando and I work very well together on that kind of thing.
“We have always wanted very similar things from the car. So I think that’s very useful for the team.
“As long as we keep saying the same things then, while it means that we’re still not on top of them, [it] also [means] that we’re still working very much in the same wavelength.”
The 2025 F1 season could be Oscar Piastri’s chance to establish himself ahead of Lando Norris
McLaren have warned Norris and Piastri about their title aspirations as they know that the team needs to come first, especially when the grid is expected to be so close.
Norris established himself as McLaren’s lead driver by proving to be Verstappen’s closest rival, securing nine pole positions across the campaign.
Piastri could only show flashes of brilliance, pulling off opportunistic moves on Norris in Hungary and at Monza while also impressing during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend.
READ MORE: McLaren driver Oscar Piastri’s life outside F1 from height to girlfriend
If Piastri can consistently reach that level throughout the 2025 season, then he’ll be at the same level as Norris and that could cause McLaren some headaches.
They’ll be well aware that both drivers will have one eye on the Drivers’ Championship this year if they once again develop the fastest car on the grid.
Brown and Stella haven’t had to deal with a relationship like that before in F1 and given both drivers want the same thing from their cars, that should guide them in the right direction with their car development.
It may be just the advantage McLaren require over Ferrari and Red Bull to earn another championship.
