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"I’M NOT A NUMBER TWO" – OSCAR PIASTRI’S BLUNT WARNING TO MCLAREN MANAGEMENT 2026
After a brutal 2025 title fight, the Norris-Piastri rivalry reaches a breaking point. We analyze the 2026 McLaren driver fallout.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are sticking together at McLaren for a fourth season in 2026, but things got tense as they battled over the 2025 F1 title.
For the first time, both drivers emerged as genuine title favourites when 2025 began. McLaren nailed their car, and it showed—Norris took the win in Australia, then Piastri racked up five victories in the first nine races.
But in July, McLaren shifted their focus to the 2026 car, and that gave Max Verstappen an opening. He clawed back from being 104 points behind Piastri and 70 behind Norris after 15 rounds. Still, Norris hung on and clinched the drivers’ title by just two points.
All season, you could feel the tension building behind the scenes. People started saying McLaren was favouring Norris, especially after a few team orders in Italy and some questionable strategy calls in Belgium and Hungary that seemed to go his way.
Norris claims his rivalry with Piastri is “as perfect” as the infamous Hamilton-Alonso showdown at McLaren. The outside world kept talking, but Piastri insisted his relationship with Norris was “better than ever”. Norris, though, compared what’s going on now to the fierce fight between Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso back in 2007. For anyone who remembers, that partnership crashed and burned—Alonso left after a year, feeling like the team sided with Hamilton.
But Norris says he and Piastri have a rivalry just as good. He even mentioned the first F1 race he ever watched was Hamilton vs. Alonso at McLaren, and he thought it was “as perfect” as what he and Piastri have now. “To watch that, to see Lewis on the podium, the crowd, the energy—I wondered at seven years old what that would feel like,” Norris said while picking up the Autosport Champion award. “Last year, I got to live it. It was one of the most special moments of my life.”
As for Piastri, he’s now Norris’s longest-running teammate—2026 will be their fourth year together. Norris started alongside Carlos Sainz, then spent two years with Daniel Ricciardo before Piastri joined in 2023.
But their future as a duo isn’t guaranteed. There are rumours McLaren’s got an eye on Charles Leclerc at Ferrari in case Piastri decides to walk away after 2026. He’s apparently frustrated after how 2025 played out.
There were a few flashpoints. At Silverstone, Piastri wanted to swap places with Norris, but McLaren ignored him, and after a penalty for a safety car restart, Norris got his first home win. In Hungary, Norris beat Piastri again, this time thanks to a one-stop strategy McLaren let him run.
The biggest controversy came in Italy. McLaren told Piastri to give Norris back second place after an undercut, even though they’d told Norris he’d stay ahead if he let Piastri pit first. Piastri obeyed, but he wasn’t happy about it.
Then there was COTA, where McLaren blamed Piastri for a sprint race crash with Norris, even though earlier they’d punished Norris for banging wheels with Piastri in Singapore. All these decisions added up, and now people are wondering how much longer this pairing will last.
MELBOURNE WARNING: MAX SAYS FANS WILL SEE "UNNATURAL" LIFT-AND-COAST DURING THE AUSTRALIAN OPENER
Max Verstappen calls 2026 F1 rules "anti-racing." Discover why he thinks the new engines feel like Formula E on steroids.
Max Verstappen isn’t letting up on his criticism of the new 2026 Formula 1 rules. He says F1 needs to “stay away” from turning into Formula E.
Last week in Bahrain, Verstappen really stirred things up during pre-season testing. He called the new rules “anti-racing” and basically said the series is turning into “Formula E on steroids".
Here’s what’s going on: the next generation of F1 engines will rely way more on electrical power, almost a 50-50 split with the combustion engine. So, battery management is about to become a huge part of racing, not just a side thing.
What does that actually mean? Well, drivers might have to downshift even on the straights just to save energy. That’s a move straight out of Formula E, where drivers sometimes drop back on purpose to save battery and then attack late in the race.
Verstappen wants none of it. When someone asked him if F1 might start attracting more Formula E drivers because of all this battery management or even become a feeder series for the all-electric championship, he didn’t hold back. “Well, let’s hope not,” he said.
He clarified he’s not against the drivers. “There are a lot of good drivers in Formula E who could do well here,” Verstappen said. “But I don’t want F1 to get close to Formula E.”
He was pretty blunt about what he wants: “I want us to actually stay away from that and be Formula 1. So don’t add more battery. Actually, get rid of that and focus on a proper engine. Let Formula E be Formula E, because that’s their thing.”
He’s seen the new Gen4 Formula E car, and he thinks it looks cool. “But let them be Formula E, and we should stick to Formula 1. Let’s not mix them up.”
Verstappen isn’t the only one talking about the 2026 rules. They’ve really split opinions. Lando Norris, last year’s world champion, said the new cars are “a lot of fun".
When someone asked Verstappen if he got any pushback from the authorities for speaking out, he just shrugged it off. “I’m just sharing my opinion,” he said. “We have free speech. That’s how I feel. Not everyone has to agree, and honestly, it doesn’t really matter what other people say. I got a question, and I answered it.
“I think I’m allowed to do that. So it’s not about pushback or anything.”
THE 2026 BLUEPRINT: HOW LEWIS HAMILTON IS SECRETLY SHAPING FERRARI’S NEXT-GEN POWER UNIT
Lewis Hamilton is betting on 2026: Discover why Jenson Button believes new F1 rules will save Hamilton’s struggling Ferrari career.
Jenson Button thinks the new Formula 1 rules are going to be a turning point for Lewis Hamilton’s future in the sport. Hamilton’s first year with Ferrari? Pretty rough. He didn’t even get on the podium once, a first for him, and finished sixth in the drivers’ standings, while Ferrari landed fourth in the Constructors’ Championship. Now, Hamilton’s 41 and not shy about wanting things to get better this season. Button, though, is still hopeful. He figures Hamilton’s early work with Ferrari’s 2026 car could really pay off.
Button knows what he’s talking about; he spent three years as Hamilton’s teammate at McLaren. Watching Hamilton struggle last season was hard for him. “It was tough, I have to say, watching Lewis in 2025,” Button told Sky Sports News before the new season kicks off in Australia on March 8. “I know how good he is. You could see how much it hurt him. You almost forget everything he’s accomplished because you just see the pain in his face. But honestly, with these new regulations, I think we’ll see Lewis back at his best.”
Button thinks Hamilton’s going to have a real say in how Ferrari builds the new car, and that’ll make a big difference. “He’ll help shape the car in a way that works for him,” Button said. “I hope we see that. Everyone wants to see Ferrari and Lewis fighting at the front again.”
The rule changes this time around are pretty major. The biggest stuff? Overhauls to the power unit and new hybrid engines. Aerodynamics are getting a shake-up, too, and F1’s dropping the drag reduction system completely. Teams also have to deal with new financial rules after the cap on operational costs went up. Ferrari’s hoping all this helps them get back in the title fight. Button, who just retired last year, says with all these changes, “anything is possible” as the sport heads into a new era.
Last season, Hamilton’s teammate Charles Leclerc outshone him, grabbing seven podiums even though they drove the same car. Leclerc’s been at Ferrari longer, so that probably helped, but Hamilton’s betting that another year at Maranello will give him what he needs by 2026.
Still, Button doesn’t sugarcoat it. If things don’t turn around for Hamilton this year, it might never work out, which could mean the end of the road for him in F1. “Switching teams and going up against someone who’s been there for years is always tough,” Button said. “But now Lewis has had time to settle in, build relationships, and shape the car’s direction. This year’s huge for him. If it doesn’t click, I don’t know if it ever will. This is his chance to turn things around.”
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