McLaren F1 favouritism? Ex-star hints that Lando Norris has stronger relationship

A straight faced Zak Brown is flanked by a smiling Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris — Photo: © IMAGO

McLaren

McLaren favouritism? Ex-star hints Norris has stronger relationship

David Coulthard has suggested Lando Norris may have a stronger relationship with the team

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Wednesday 7 January 2026 18:56

McLaren F1 legend David Coulthard has hinted that Lando Norris has a stronger relationship with McLaren than Oscar Piastri.

Norris won the 2025 drivers' world championship, defeating four-time champion Max Verstappen by just two points. Piastri finished a further 11 points back, despite leading the championship between April-October.

A plethora of conspiracy theories started during the 2025 season about McLaren allegedly favouring Norris' championship charge because he was British and had been at the team longer, something that was completely rubbished by McLaren and by the drivers themselves.

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Norris simply found his best form at the right time, and managed to usurp Piastri, while both drivers had their fair share of unfortunate moments and difficult team order calls throughout the season.

Now, however, Coulthard has suggested that Norris has a stronger relationship with the team, because of the fact he has raced for more seasons with the Woking-based outfit.

While being asked about his previous comments that former McLaren team principal Ron Dennis had clearly favoured Mika Hakkinen during the pair's time at McLaren, Coulthard told the Red Flags podcast about the current situation: "It's a tricky one, isn't it? And of course, the immediate response from anyone at McLaren would be ‘that's not the case.’ And that's absolutely fine, I get that. And they may genuinely - not just want to close the conversation down - but they may genuinely believe that.

"You know, I only have one son, but if you've got two kids, you must kind of be slightly closer to one than the other. You've got to be because we're all different. You know, I'm the middle of three and my brother's very different to me and my sister who's no longer with us sadly, but she had a different personality as well.

"So, I think that the fact that Lando has - he's doing his 150th grand prix with the team as we speak here in Vegas. He knows the team more and if relationships didn't build over time and didn't matter then we wouldn't have the word relationship. It is what it is.

"So I believe that they're giving equal opportunity in terms of machinery. I truly believe in McLaren and I think they've all credit to Zak and Andrea Stella and all of the team and guys that I work with like Rob Marshall and people that are there and Peter Prodromou and you know, they've built this winning culture and it's beautiful to observe."

McLaren conspiracy theories

Claims that McLaren favour Norris largely began to circulate after a decision was made by the team at the Italian Grand Prix to swap Norris and Piastri around following a botched pit stop for the Brit, a decision that caused a points swing in the championship battle between the pair.

Norris went on to beat Piastri comprehensively in the championship battle, but fans refused to let the moment go, and Norris was frequently booed at races in the latter stages of the season as a result.

CEO Zak Brown has constantly reiterated that McLaren have two number one drivers in F1 and that neither Piastri nor Norris get preference, recently telling the Beyond the Grid podcast: "We won't do it [play favourites]. We're racers and we're going racing."

But Coulthard's comments may just get the conspiracy theories started again, before the 2026 season which is set to be another fiercely competitive championship race.

F1 McLaren Lando Norris Oscar Piastri David Coulthard