Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri rivalry 'too polite' for fireworks

Jacques Villeneuve says McLaren’s dominant 2025 season may still deliver a fierce internal title fight, but he’s not expecting anything close to a Senna-Prost repeat.

With Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris heading into the summer break as clear frontrunners in the championship, attention is shifting toward how the Woking team will handle a rising intra-team rivalry.

"They always seem happy when their opponent does better and wins a race," Villeneuve told La Gazzetta dello Sport. "It's a bit of a strange situation. "I can't imagine, for example, Senna and Prost doing the same thing." But the 1997 world champion thinks the tone could shift once the constructors’ title is in the bag.

"I think that once they're sure they've won the Constructors' Championship, they'll start to show their character more on the track. And then the competition between the two will really heat up.

"Or at least I hope so!" McLaren CEO Zak Brown, speaking to De Telegraaf, said the team continues to operate under strict 'papaya rules', allowing hard racing, but not contact.

"Our drivers are treated equally and fairly," said Brown. "They get to decide who becomes champion, and at the same time, the constructors' title takes care of itself."

He acknowledged the risks of equal treatment. "We know there are risks involved, if you want to call it that from a driver's perspective, like in 2007," he said, referencing the Hamilton-Alonso fallout. "The downside of favouring one driver is that the other might leave."

Piastri’s frustration was evident after Silverstone, where a safety car penalty cost him a likely win, but Brown insists the tension was short-lived.

"Oscar was angry after the race at Silverstone, and that was understandable. I had to break the ice with him," Brown said. "I sometimes got nasty messages from fans on social media. After that race, one message from an Oscar fan was quite intense.

"Oscar and I were walking somewhere together, and I showed him the message and he said, 'Hey, you didn't have to show me that!'" Brown laughed. "Oscar had already cooled down by then."

McLaren also survived a close call in Hungary, finishing 1-2. Brown expects more to come. "The tension will only increase," he said. "They'll definitely meet on track, but I'm confident they won't deliberately run each other off. Racing incidents are part of the game."