Guenther Steiner does not believe that the Championship fight between McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri has the same intensity as teammate battles of the past.
Norris and Piastri are currently locked in a tight race for the 2025 title, with Piastri leading by nine points into the summer break following Norris’s win at the Hungarian Grand Prix last weekend. With ten races to go, starting with Zandvoort at the end of the month, pundits have noted a lack of fire between the two rivals, even as the fight heats up.
Steiner believes that this title fight doesn’t compare to what we saw at Mercedes in 2016
Former Haas boss Steiner has weighed in on the situation at McLaren, comparing this year’s Championship fight to the rivalry between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg in 2016. 2016 saw an explosive fallout between the Mercedes drivers – and childhood best friends – as Rosberg took his maiden Championship win, before retiring from the sport.
Speaking on The Red Flags Podcast, Steiner said: “At McLaren, they are a little more relaxed about it. They work very well as a team.”
Steiner broke down the differences in strategy put forward by Mercedes and McLaren during their teammate battles, believing teams should put their drivers on the same strategy and let them race on track, arguing that if they then crash, there is no room to blame the team. Despite his view, it seems Steiner is impressed by the way McLaren is managing the title fight.
Could we see a fallout between Norris and Piastri that compares to Hamilton and Rosberg?
Norris and Piastri have mostly managed to keep it clean on track since becoming teammates, and this season has been no different. The only on-track incident we’ve seen this season was a misjudged move from Norris at the Canadian Grand Prix that led to the Brit ruining his race.
There have been instances, such as at the Hungaroring last weekend, where Piastri has gone for late lunges that haven’t paid off. Still, these incidents haven’t seemed to create tension off-track, despite rumours that Norris and Piastri have retreated into their camps as the season has progressed.
⚔️| Lando Norris has revealed why he won’t get aggressive with championship rival Oscar Piastri:
“I don’t enjoy that. In 200 years, no one is going to care. We’ll all be dead. am trying to have a good time. I still care about it, and that’s why I get upset sometimes and I get…
— Fastest Pitstop (@FastestPitStop) August 4, 2025
While fans have seen that both McLaren drivers aren’t afraid to go wheel to wheel with one another, the atmosphere at Mercedes in 2016 was far more hostile, with crashes at the Spanish Grand Prix and the Austrian Grand Prix souring relations between Hamilton and Rosberg.
With Norris and Piastri locked in with contracts beyond 2026, it seems that McLaren are trying to keep both camps happy, but as we head into the second half of the season, could we see a repeat of 2016?
