"We are lucky”: McLaren boss shares perspective on Lando Norris-Oscar Piastri battle for F1 title

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has taken the time to give his take on the 2025 F1 Drivers' championship battle between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. He believed that his team was 'lucky' having two extremely potent drivers at its disposal.

After the first 13 rounds of the ongoing campaign, Oscar Piastri leads the championship with 266 points. Lando Norris, on the other hand, is not too far behind in P2 with 250 points. In the last round, the Belgian Grand Prix, McLaren secured a 1-2 finish with Piastri amassing six victories in the season.

In line with how close the margins have been between the two McLaren drivers, Andrea Stella has applauded both Norris and Piastri. He added the following via an interaction with F1:

"There is very, very little between our two drivers, and this is because the two drivers are racing at a very, very high level. We are lucky at McLaren to have two drivers that deservedly are fighting for the World Championship.

"I think the difference will be made by the accuracy, the precision, the quality of the execution. We saw in Silverstone that an issue, a sporting issue for Oscar during the Safety Car start and the consequent penalty cost him the race."

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have both amassed 11 podiums so far in the 2025 F1 season; however, when it comes to victories, the latter has had the edge. Piastri (6) leads Norris (2) in the wins column by two.

"He deserved it": Lando Norris on Oscar Piastri's Belgian GP win

F1 Grand Prix Of Belgium - Source: Getty

While Andrea Stella has not held back from crediting both drivers for their heroics in the 2025 F1 season, Oscar Piastri was able to get the better of Lando Norris in last week's race, and this was acknowledged by Norris. In the post-race interview at Spa-Francorchamps, the Brit admitted that his teammate deserved to win the Belgian GP.

Norris started the Grand Prix from pole position (rolling start - lap 5), but going through Eau Rouge, he was immediately overtaken by Piastri. From then on, the latter nicely controlled the race from the front and triumphed in it. In a post-race interview, Norris said, via F1:

"Oscar just did a good job, nothing more to say. He committed a bit more through Eau Rouge and had the slipstream and got the run. Nothing to complain of. He did a better job in the beginning and that was it, nothing more I could do after that point. I would love to be on top but Oscar deserved it today."

While Norris (250) is trailing Piastri (266) in the standings, the 2025 Formula 1 season still has quite a few Grand Prix remaining on the race calendar. Next up is this week's race in Hungary.