Oscar Piastri slammed for feeding McLaren favouritism conspiracy

Former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher has once again hit out at suggestions that McLaren may be favouring Lando Norris over Oscar Piastri in the title battle.

A number of particularly tedious fans have spent much of the season compiling a backlog of imagined slights and miscellaneous pieces of evidence so flimsy they dissipate in a light breeze, claiming that Piastri is being treated poorly by the team in favour of team-mate Lando Norris.

The online clamour around the idea that Norris is being unfairly favoured has reached the point that a number of pundits have felt the need to address the idea – although Schumacher's latest take is at least a new variation on 'no, obviously this isn't true'.

The German has dismissed the conspiracies, which he described this week as 'bull****', but pointed a finger of blame at Piastri and manager Mark Webber for playing into them somewhat.

Schumacher: McLaren conspiracies make no sense

Speaking on the Sky Sports Germany podcast Backstage Boxengasse, former Williams driver said: "What reason does McLaren have to favour one driver over another? None at all. It makes no sense for any team to give one driver or the other a bad car."

He continued: "If you start making excuses, saying things like, 'The car is completely different', or 'Something's not right here', and then you see Webber constantly on the phone, then people on the outside can easily get the impression that they're no longer entirely satisfied.

"And that would be disastrous. So now management needs to step up and say, 'Hey, focus'."

Piastri goes into next weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix just a single point behind Norris following the latter's win in Mexico, the first time since Saudi Arabia that the Brit has sat in the championship lead.

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