Ralf Schumacher claims Oscar Piastri secretly wants Verstappen to beat Norris in Abu Dhabi. Ralf Schumacher predicts Lando Norris will win his first F1 World Championship at Abu Dhabi.

According to the former German driver, it will be Lando Norris who comes out on top at the Abu Dhabi weekend, securing his first career World Championship.

The third contender

After leading the championship for much of the season, Oscar Piastri arrives at the Abu Dhabi finale as the outsider. His failure to win in Qatar, due to a team strategy error rather than a lack of competitiveness from the Australian, may have marked the end of his championship hopes. Oscar Piastri would now need both Lando Norris and Max Verstappen to falter in order to celebrate his first title on Sunday evening.

In recent days, there has understandably been much speculation about Oscar Piastri’s role in this final championship battle. It is not impossible that a particular race situation could allow the Australian to play a key part in helping his teammate secure the championship. However, regardless of Piastri’s behavior, former F1 driver and now German TV pundit Ralf Schumacher is convinced that Oscar is not rooting for Lando.

Is Oscar rooting for Max?

“I think from his perspective [Piastri] hopes that Max Verstappen becomes World Champion,” Ralf Schumacher stated in an interview with German site Formel1.de, “because having your own teammate as world champion is obviously far from pleasant. There’s no doubt about that. But he has to deal with it,” Ralf added. “He had everything in his hands and made some mistakes. He showed his nerves. People didn’t think he would struggle—they called him ‘Iceman.’ Obviously, that wasn’t the case. The closer he got to the title, the more he pushed, and he probably overdid it. Now he’s found the right rhythm again, but I believe at Abu Dhabi, Lando Norris will be better again because the track suits him more.” – the former Formula 1 driver pointed out ahead of the final round of the 2025 season.

Ralf Schumacher’s blunt assessment will only add fuel to an already fiery weekend, with many wondering whether McLaren’s “papaya rules” of letting their drivers race will hold firm when a world championship is on the line – and whether Oscar Piastri truly accepts the prospect of playing second fiddle to his teammate in the most important race of the year.