Lando Norris facing devastating demotion after Canadian GP clash

Lando Norris' collision with Oscar Piastri at the Canadian Grand Prix may not have hampered the pair's relationship, as proven by both of their kind words after the race.

However, it may have just changed Norris' role within the team for the remainder of the 2025 season... and possibly beyond.

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After 10 rounds of the 2025 world championship, Norris is now 22 points behind his team-mate at the top of the championship standings, after Piastri managed to finish fourth despite the late incident which ruled Norris out of the race in Montreal.

The Brit took full responsibility for the clash, calling himself 'stupid', and apologising to Piastri in their post-race interviews.

This may mean a full-scale review and intense discussion between the pair are not needed ahead of the next round in Austria, but as far as McLaren are concerned, it may just have confirmed Piastri's spot as their number one driver.

Could Norris face team orders from now on?

So far in 2025, CEO Zak Brown and team principal Andrea Stella have reiterated the McLaren hierarchy does not feel their F1 driver duo needs to have a number one driver, and that neither racer's championship bid would be prioritised.

The season is long, they've constantly reiterated, and the pair are free to race, as long as it doesn't hamper McLaren's constructors' championship bid.

However, with the constructors' title all but wrapped up even at this early stage, the only thing that could now go wrong in the season for McLaren would be if Max Verstappen somehow snuck through to claim the drivers' championship.

The Dutchman is lurking in third, and having won four championships consecutively, he is the only one of the three who has experience in maximising results in order to stave off the threats of his rivals.

The Red Bull star is 43 points behind Piastri, not an insurmountable gap, and Norris' DNF in Canada is a stark reminder of how easy it is for a driver to score zero points across a grand prix weekend.

Team boss Brown was not in Canada, he instead opted to watch the iconic 24 Hours of Le Mans race, and that may have led to the rest of the team being a little more brave when giving orders to their drivers.

For example, Norris' engineer, Will Joseph, actively encouraged his driver to try and make a pass on Piastri while he was not getting DRS from the back of Kimi Antonelli's Mercedes, instead of encouraging Norris to play the team game.

McLaren now need to do what they didn't do in 2024 and back one of their drivers in their search for a drivers' championship, and with his now hefty lead, that driver should be Piastri.

It doesn't mean Norris won't be able to compete to the best of his ability, or that the pecking order cannot change should Piastri have a huge drop-off in form.

But, for now at least, Norris should be used as a buffer between Piastri and Verstappen, with McLaren activating strategies which may hamper Norris' overall race pace, but could allow the Brit to hold up Verstappen to give Piastri a larger lead.

Or, split strategies to leave Red Bull scratching their heads as the Milton Keynes-based outfit look likely to have just one driver challenging near the front for the rest of the 2025 season.

Christian Horner and Helmut Marko have already declared they are out of the constructors' title hunt, now only focusing on trying to secure Verstappen a record-equalling fifth consecutive drivers' championship.

That threat needs to be taken seriously by McLaren, who also don't need to focus on the constructors' championship anymore, for different reasons.

McLaren's response vital

So, will McLaren do anything about the situation now that one of their drivers has a hefty gap at the top of the drivers' championship?

Team principal Stella suggested there would be a 'review' in the aftermath of the Canadian GP, which could mean Norris now faces being labelled the number two driver for the remainder of the season.

"We never want to see a McLaren involved in an accident and definitely we never want to see the two McLarens touching each other," Stella told Sky Sports F1 after the race.

"It's something we definitely need to review because this is a very clear principle. At the same time it's a contact that happened because of a misjudgement, just Lando misjudged the distance to the car ahead and therefore there was no malintent.

"Lando owned immediately, took responsibility for that, but certainly something to discuss and review. Our principles are already in place, our drivers will have something to learn further and we go racing again.

"It is absolutely a misjudgement that cost Lando quite a lot in the championship. It already cost for the team so definitely an incident that should have not happened."

Piastri, on the other hand, was not phased and does not believe a review is needed: "I'll go and have a look obviously but we're both fighting for a world championship and am very thankful to the team that they allow us to race.

"I don't expect this to change anything in terms of that. We'll keep going racing through the year," he concluded.

So, from Piastri's view, nothing needs to be done. However, you can't help but wonder if that will change should Norris or Verstappen begin to make a nuisance of themselves during races more regularly, giving McLaren strategists a headache on the pit wall.

As has been seen in the past, it is the team who makes the ultimate decision on this, and Piastri and Norris' grievances are unlikely to stop McLaren from taking action should they believe that their attitude of allowing the drivers to race is stopping one of them from claiming the drivers' title.

READ MORE: FIA confirm 70-PLACE grid penalty ruling at Canadian Grand Prix

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