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FORMULA 1 QATAR AIRWAYS QATAR GRAND PRIX 2025
This just solidifies my belief that Mclaren doesn't have two number 1 drivers, they have two number 2 drivers. They could've had the WDC in the bag by now and instead it gets down to the last race. It's still Norris's championship to lose but if he hadn't passed Antonelli then Max winning the WDC would've been a near guarantee. It shouldn't have been this close to begin with, but because McLaren refuses to have a number 1 driver we're going to the last race with only a small advantage for Norris to win. If I was Oscar Piastri I would be looking at what other teams can offer because Mclaren is only cares about the WCC. He deserves better.
The rest of the race kinda meh IMO. I don't know how Sainz got to P3 but definitely a good job.
The problem is more that they make silly unforced errors. Like today, where they made a completely weird strategy call for both or last race, where they had more porpoising than they expected and got DQed. There were more of these errors during the season, albeit not often this consequential. They could have gone into the last few races just fighting it out amongst themselves, but instead they've let a third one get in between them.
This would be even more true, if McL had decided to back Lando at the beginning of the season. It is precisely the equal opportunity in the most competitive car, that would keep him there (rule changes for 2026 notwithstanding). So the argument is exactly the opposite.
My point is that Mclaren could've decided midway through the season that one driver has more points and more wins and then backed him. Instead they decided to give both drivers an "equal" chance and in doing so let Verstappen stay as a legitimate contender for the championship. By trying to treat both drivers as the number 1 driver they've ended up treating both drivers as number 2 drivers. In that sense IMO it doesn't even matter if Mclaren had decided to back Norris from the start, Piastri would've been treated as a number 2 driver either way. That's why if I was Piastri I would be looking elsewhere because you can't trust Mclaren to have your back for the WDC. The only reason to stick with Mclaren is because they had a dominant car this year, but if next year their car isn't as dominant as this year then what's the point of sticking with them for 2027? You don't get the clearly fastest car and you don't get the full support of the team. One of the reasons Verstappen is in contention is because the team has his back completely. The team would move mountains if it meant that Max would win. Much like Verstappen Piastri probably could achieve more with a weaker car but with a team that 100% has his back.
I'm happy they did this. I've hated the concept of "number 2" drivers ever since the Schumacher era. All drivers should be treated equally by the team, and if they can't let's just have one car per team and double the amount of teams.
Indycar is refreshing this way.
The issue is that this is essentially impossible. First of all, any team can say "we treat all our drivers equally" and then continue preferring one driver. And McLarens call to stay out shows exactly why you can't keep things equal. The correct option would've been to call both Piastri and Norris in because that was the optimal strategy (which is why every other team made the same call) but the reason they didn't call them in was because they didn't want to compromise Norris with the double stack. The call to pit wouldn't have been fair to Norris but not calling them in wasn't fair to Piastri. Whether McLaren wanted or not they ended up with a call that benefited one driver over the other. They couldn't have treated both drivers equally even if they wanted to.
The only way drivers could even be considered as being treated "equally" is if the team chooses to back a driver on a race to race basis. If one driver is doing a better job / gets more lucky throughout the weekend then they get preferential treatment. And I think that's how we've come to the number 1 and number 2 drivers. One driver simply does better than the other. That just gets extended to the WDC where if one driver has been consistently better than the other driver they get more backing to make sure there's a chance to get the WDC. In an effort to keep things always equal you end up mistreating both drivers and leave the WDC to be snatched from the jaws of victory.
So, again, this is not an issue in Indycar. Each car has its own crew instead of one crew trying to please two drivers.
Much more fun - and McLaren being in Indycar I actually hope this is why they (try to) do it also in F1.
Norris could of course have yelled "I'm coming in" when he saw Piastri didn't. As Piastri did pitting earlier than the team planned for the end stint.