McLaren's bias towards Lando Norris in the spotlight with latest Juan Pablo Montoya comment

Juan Pablo Montoya has hinted that McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown may be biased towards Lando Norris over Oscar Piastri. The Woking-based team is in the eye of the storm, with both its drivers contending for the 2025 drivers' championship.

Montoya spoke about their dynamic in a recent interview with Coinpoker. When asked if he sees the loser of this championship battle leaving McLaren after 2025, the Colombian replied:

"No, because they both have contracts. Whoever wins would create an awkward situation for a while, but they’ll get over it. But was Senna politically correct? Was Senna correct in the way he won races and championships? No. Was Prost fair? No. Was Lewis fair? No. Schumacher? No. Was Max? No."

Montoya also highlighted how Zak Brown seems to favor Lando Norris over Oscar Piastri in the championship battle. The former has been a part of the McLaren family since 2017, when he joined its driver development program before getting a full-time seat in 2019, while the latter was Alpine's find before he suddenly left the French team for McLaren in 2023.

"What is interesting for me is that you hear Zak saying, 'This is Lando’s era.' It’s an interesting thing because you haven’t heard Zak saying, 'This is Oscar’s era.' He’s always said this is Lando’s era," the former McLaren driver added.

In July this year, McLaren technical chief Neil Houldey revealed that the team's upgrades on the MCL39 were "biased" towards Norris' feedback because of the detailed debriefs he provided.

Juan Pablo Montoya highlights the "only way to prevent Armageddon" between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri pose with a trophy at the F1 Hungarian GP- Source: Getty

McLaren has seen intra-team rivalries end sourly more than once in its F1 history. Be it Ayrton Senna versus Alain Prost or Lewis Hamilton versus Fernando Alonso, the recipe was the same - two on-par drivers in the best car going neck-to-neck for the ultimate glory on the racetrack.

In the case of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, something similar could brew in the second half of 2025. Both drivers have raced respectfully against each other so far, continuing the 2024 trend. However, with a drivers' championship on the line for both youngsters, it might not take long for the trend to reverse.

A glimpse of such a potential disintegration was on display at the Canadian GP, when Norris crashed into Piastri while attempting an overtake on the main straight. Juan Pablo Montoya, who won three races with McLaren in 2005, has highlighted the only thing that can prevent a full-blown war between them.

"I think the rules need to be clear. The only way to prevent Armageddon there is to say if you hit your teammate on purpose, we’re going to make sure the other guy wins," Montoya said.

In 2025, both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have finished on the podium in 12 of 14 races so far. However, the Aussie is leading the drivers' championship by 9 points over his British teammate - 284 vs 275. McLaren already has one hand on the constructors' championship with 559 points compared to runner-up Ferrari's 260.