Photo: Race Pictures

'Piastri doesn't feel like he's being treated fairly' in fight vs Norris

21:02, 30 Oct

byNorberto Mujica

EX-F1 driver Ralf Schumacher has stated he sometimes thinks Oscar Piastri "doesn't feel he's being treated fairly" by McLaren in his fight against teammate Lando Norris, a claim the German outrightly dismisses.

From the outside you can get the feeling that he's not entirely happy there anymore.

- Ralf Schumacher.

Tensions first surfaced at Monza, when the McLaren pit wall instructed Piastri to let Norris through after a slow pit stop dropped the Briton from P2 to P3 — a call that directly contradicted the team’s long-standing policy of letting racing incidents or pit stop delays play out naturally.

The team order effectively cost Piastri three crucial points - enough to keep Norris behind him in the championship, which the Briton now leads by a single point. The incident has reignited questions over whether McLaren’s so-called “papaya rules” still apply equally to both drivers.

One race later in Singapore, Norris made light contact with Piastri while completing an overtake at the start. Under McLaren’s own internal guidelines, such a scenario should have triggered a position swap to neutralise any advantage gained, but again, it didn’t.

Lando Norris won the Mexico GP, while Oscar Piastri only managed a P5 result. Photo: Race Pictures

Looking at Norris as the current benchmark at McLaren given his recent form which has yielded three podium finishes and a win in the past five races, where teammate Piastri has failed to reach the rostrum, Schumacher said on the Boxxengasse Backstage podcast: "Then you have a rough idea of how the car was performing. That means McLaren had a strong car."

Alluding to the lack of results Norris was able to achieve in the first part of the season - compared to Piastri - the German added: "Norris was denied that opportunity here and there this year, when he could have made a bigger difference.

Turning his focus to Piastri Schumacher added: "He was having a difficult weekend in general. So, underlying it all, you always get the feeling that he doesn't feel he's being treated fairly at the moment."

Schumacher warns McLaren of potential 'disaster'

Schumacher suggested that tension between Piastri and McLaren’s leadership, or even with manager Mark Webber, could have serious consequences if not addressed.

He continued: "You can't shake the feeling that something has changed around him. And that's very, very dangerous. I can say that from my own experience.

"So, if you start looking for excuses, the manager might say that the car is always different or that something isn't right here. And then you see him constantly on the phone, and from the outside you can get the feeling that he's not entirely happy there anymore.

Oscar Piastri in Mexican GP - Photo: Race Pictures

"And that would be disastrous, of course. So now it's up to the [McLaren] leadership to say, ‘Come on, concentrate.'"

Schumacher states McLaren have no reason to throw in their support to either Norris or Piastri: "Because what reason does McLaren have to favour one person over another? None whatsoever.

"And above all, you want to have one and two, ideally. It makes no sense for any team to give one driver or the other a bad car. And that's what we need to work on now. It's a bit of a style thing, but I almost have that feeling," the ex-F1 driver concluded.

Piastri has admitted to having issues with the MCL39

Speaking after the Mexico City Grand Prix Piastri said he had been undergoing adaptation issues to the MCL39 as of late.

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella argued his driver's difficulties had been prompted by the lack of grip experienced at recent tracks like Baku, the Circuit of the Americas and the Autodromo Hermanos Rodrigues.

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