McLaren boss identifies major factor behind Lando Norris-Oscar Piastri’s F1 dominance in 2025

McLaren CEO Zak Brown has shared the factor behind his drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri's dominance in the 2025 F1 season. After the first 14 rounds, the duo is sitting pretty in the top two spots in the standings.

Oscar Piastri is in first place with 284 points alongside his six Grand Prix wins, whereas Lando Norris is in second, having amassed 275 points and five Grand Prix triumphs. Moreover, they are equal in terms of podium finishes with 12 each.

Third-placed Max Verstappen is only on 187 points (two Grand Prix wins and five podiums) and is way behind the high-flying McLaren duo. In line with how well Piastri, Norris, and the McLaren team have performed in the 2025 season, Zak Brown named a fascinating factor as the reason behind their success.

In an interview with How Leaders Lead with David Novak, Brown talked about the budget cap ($135m for 2025) that was put in place during the COVID times, and added:

"That was a huge, and we were lucky on timing from a COVID point of view. Obviously COVID was a terrible thing, but it put the sport under an immense amount of pressure.

"And that was right when we were talking to the budget cap, which was actually going to be significantly higher. So we got a little bit lucky with the timing because it allowed me to push even harder to get the budget cap down."

The budget cap has been in place since 2021. Before this, teams had the liberty to splash as much money as possible on car development, which was a huge disadvantage to the smaller/midfield teams.

Zak Brown 'looking forward' to Lando Norris and Piastri's fight in second half of 2025

Oscar Piastri, Zak Brown and Lando Norris - Source: Getty

While Zak Brown has deemed the budget cap a key factor behind McLaren's success in the ongoing 2025 F1 season, he has also asserted that his drivers have the utmost respect for each other. Moreover, Brown was eagerly looking forward to seeing them lock horns in the upcoming second half of the 2025 F1 season.

In line with this, Brown added the following via an interaction with the BBC:

"I don't think they'll properly fall out because of the communication, trust and respect we all have, and they have for each other. We're very fortunate to have the two personalities that we have. We love the challenge. I'm looking forward to them racing each other."

The 2025 F1 season will return to television screens from August 29 onward. Round 15 will take place in Zandvoort with the well-known Dutch Grand Prix. Eyes will be on Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri because of their fierce fight for the drivers' championship.