Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will ‘blow up’, but it’ll be great for TV, says former F1 star
By Simon Head
McLaren look strong heading into the 2025 Formula 1 season, but sometimes a strong team can lead to big problems as internal rivalries eventually spin out of control on the track.
That’s the view of former F1 star Juan Pablo Montoya, who said that the papaya team looks in a great position to start the season on the front foot. But unless Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are able to work together for the entirety of the season, a mid-season blow-up is an inevitability.
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"Once you let them race, you open up a can of worms,” Montoya told Oddspedia.com.
“The way McLaren have controlled the drivers has been really good and they're working together really well. But, at some point, that's going to stop.
“When that stops, if they're really close, that’s when they really need to keep the drivers on a tight leash.
“I think if they can keep them in a tight leash at McLaren, they're going to be really good with the drivers understanding that there's nobody above the team.
“If they have a car to win the drivers’ world championship, I think it can blow up pretty bad (but) I think it would be good for TV!”
The season gets underway this weekend in Melbourne, Australia, with McLaren’s Piastri set to kick off the season with a race on home soil, while Norris will look to hit the ground running as he attempts to continue the momentum he had at the end of the 2024 season.
Montoya said he thinks McLaren will have the early advantage, but there are plenty of burning questions that will start to get answered as the racing action gets underway.
“If it's a really smooth weekend, I think McLaren should win it,” he said.
“But there are so many fascinating elements.
“It’s Piastri's home race. Is he going to step out of Lando’s shadow? Is that rivalry going to create some friction? Is that going to set a different tone for the year?
“Is Lewis Hamilton going to be able to beat (Charles) Leclerc? How much of a gap is there going to be between them?
“And what's going to happen with (Kimi) Antonelli (at Mercedes)? He's either going to be a massive shining star or with so many eyes on him or will he fold under the pressure. That's going to be a pretty good story.
“The Carlos Sainz story, how competitive are Williams going to be? That’ll be intriguing. It’s (Jack) Doohan’s home race as well, and everybody's got their eyes on him.”
Another mouth-watering prospect this season is the possibility of more drivers going wheel to wheel with Max Verstappen on track.
The Dutchman has enjoyed the luxury of the best car on the grid for much of his last few seasons. But now, it looks like the chasing pack has caught Red Bull, and in some cases, passed them.
It means that Verstappen may find himself battling a host of different names as he scraps for wins, podiums and championship points through the season.
“I can see George Russell and Max Verstappen clashing on track and Lando Norris sticking up for himself, too,” said Montoya.
“He's got to. He can't be intimidated.
“That's where I think the championship can define itself. It's the races within a race where people are going to be racing against Max.
“It’ll be about who can come out ahead, who's going to crash and who's going to lose the points.
“I think Liam [Lawson] might be a little bit like Max. And how's Liam going to behave with Max when they're going to be going at each other? Is Liam going to play ball?
“I don’t think so. I don't see Liam going, ‘Yeah Max, go ahead I'm going to let you by because you're the number one here.’
“I think he wants to set a precedent, and he can bring some fireworks to the picture.”
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