McLaren accused of 'shafting' F1 star Oscar Piastri because he's Australian

A wild accusation has been thrown the way of McLaren F1 team, as an Australian journalist has claimed the outfit are favouring Lando Norris over Oscar Piastri because the latter is an Aussie.

Peter van Onselen is an Australian academic, writer and political journalist, who wrote for the Daily Mail ahead of this weekend's Mexican Grand Prix an article titled: 'Oscar Piastri is getting shafted by McLaren in favour of Lando Norris - and it's all because he's an Aussie'.

Piastri currently leads the drivers' standings, although his team-mate Norris is now just 14 points behind him following last weekend's US GP, but McLaren have bigger problems to worry about in the form of Max Verstappen.

As the Woking-based outfit have spent the majority of the season squabbling over 'papaya rules' and driver treatment, they have now reached the point in the year where it is imperative they pull together to prioritise the championship, which in this case, would mean supporting Piastri whilst he still has the lead.

But after some controversial team orders this season, accusations of favouritism have been thrown McLaren's way, and now, Van Onselen has pointed the finger at the British team for what he believes to be British bias.

"The difference isn't just tactical, it's cultural. One driver is treated like a brand to be protected, the other like a resource to be efficiently deployed," Van Onselen wrote.

"If you think the pit wall is immune to the gravitational pull of the home market, you'll believe anything," he added.

The journalist went on to accuse McLaren of treating Norris differently to Piastri when mistakes do occur, writing: "The little Aussie battler is battling the entire establishment to win this year's championship.

"In Britain, convenience is a fast Brit in a British team winning in front of British cameras. It's not malicious, it's just muscle memory and nationalism on stilts."

McLaren hit by baseless 'favouritism' claim

Van Onselen comes across like a dog with a bone, insistent that McLaren are out to stop Piastri from earning his maiden drivers' title, but if we take a look at the facts, this is simply not the case.

The British team have made some questionable decisions this season, but if we're talking team orders, we have to go back to last season where it all started, to a moment that proves McLaren aren't biased, to a moment where they actually favoured Piastri.

At the 2024 Hungarian GP, Piastri picked up his first F1 race win after Norris ceded the lead to him with just three laps to go after a series of persistent team orders over the radio.

“I know you’ll do the right thing,” urged Norris’ race engineer Will Joseph, who was left practically begging the Brit to not ignore the instruction to swap places. Much to Norris' dislike, he eventually did, but this moment rarely gets brought up by those who are determined to find McLaren guilty of favouritism on Norris' side.

Van Onselen is a prime example of those making the argument, writing: "Either McLaren is the modern, multinational outfit it claims to be, or it's an old club with a new logo. The sport sells itself as the pinnacle of meritocracy, but that pitch rings hollow when the coin toss always seems to land Lando's way." To that, we would say, 'go and rewatch the final three laps of last year's race at the Hungaroring'.

To conclude his piece, Van Onselen said: "Australians don't want special treatment, just fairness... Piastri doesn't need charity, he needs parity. McLaren doesn't need a scapegoat, it needs a mirror so it can take a cold, hard look at itself and its actions to date."

This is where (some) common ground can be found- fairness is exactly what McLaren needs. They are so worried about accusations like the one made by Van Onselen and the Daily Mail that they allow themselves to spend a disproportionate amount of time talking of 'repercussions'.

This narrative the media have built up around the team ever since that first driver swap back in Hungary means that any time one of their drivers is met with bad luck (which ironically is more often Norris than Piastri) they immediately start overthinking, 'what would be the fair thing to do?'

Slow pit stop? Give the place back. Car failure? Level the championship advantage at the next opportunity.

But the sport doesn't need that, it needs McLaren to allow their drivers to race freely until the time comes for them to pull together, back whoever is in the lead, and put on a real show as their drivers attempt to fend off Verstappen in what could end up being his most impressive title triumph yet.

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