F1 2025, will it be a Lando Norris – Oscar Piastri family duel?
One-all and back to square one. After Lando Norris’s victory in Australia, Oscar Piastri quickly responded in China, giving his teammate a first “warning,” as if to say, “I’m also here for the title.” Norris remains at the top of the standings, having finished second in the GP he didn’t win, while Oscar Piastri continues to close the gap. But the championship is long, and the two will continue to take points from each other.
A lot can happen, and other teams are not to be written off, as the 2024 season showed. Of course, McLaren has a significant advantage (though not unassailable), and at the moment, the challenge is between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri: this would be the first “internal” world championship battle since 2016, while the last title fight solely between two Woking-based drivers dates back to the times of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost.
Mika Hakkinen’s words
Mika Hakkinen – the second-to-last driver to win the Drivers’ Championship with McLaren – is not fazed by the result of the Shanghai GP and still considers Norris the favorite: “They will push each other to the maximum of their performance, and that’s good for both the drivers and the team. But I would bet on Lando,” he commented to Bild.
The two-time world champion was one of the first to predict a McLaren resurgence, despite the seemingly unbeatable Red Bull dominance: “McLaren has developed gradually to reach the top in recent years, and after being the worst team at the start of 2023, it’s now the benchmark. The last time I was at the factory, you could feel that special atmosphere again. The team senses that a very special opportunity is presenting itself, and they know both world championships are possible this season.” – the former McLaren driver concluded at the end of the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai.
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