Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri could quickly become enemies at McLaren next season. That is the verdict of F1 mechanic-turned-pundit Marc Priestley, who worked at McLaren between 2000 and 2009. He has dismantled the notion the team can ensure parity between its two drivers. Priestley has the experience to draw upon as he worked with the Woking-based team during the contentious 2007 season when McLaren failed to manage the intense rivalry between rookie Lewis Hamilton and reigning two-time champion Fernando Alonso. Nevertheless, the team has so far insisted it currently has "two number one drivers" in its line-up and that it can also maintain harmony within its ranks. It is a dynamic McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown and team principal Andrea Stella championed, and defended, last season, with its two drivers proving a formidable pairing. The former highlighted the papaya squad's long tradition of not unduly prioritising one driver over the other, likening the current situation to the Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost era at the team, one that famously ended on poor terms amid championship-defining controversy and speculation of unequal treatment. Although, to Priestley, there is "no way Norris and Piastri remain friends" if both find themselves fighting for the F1 drivers' title next season, something that is a realistic expectation after McLaren ended its 26-year wait for a ninth constructors' crown last term. "Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are two excellent drivers and still have lots of potential ahead of them," he told Casino Uden Rofus . "There's still a huge untapped potential between the two, neither of them had ever won a grand prix before this season, the potential is massive. They're both in a really good position. "However, if they're both competing for the championship next season with the only person standing in each others' way being themselves, there is no way Norris and Piastri remain friends. I've never seen it happen and I don't think it can happen. "Since the age of seven or eight, these drivers have been dreaming of being an F1 champion, and their only competition is the guy wearing the same outfit in the same garage, they become your enemy. That's the reality of the sport. "I was at McLaren where this rare situation happens and things get nasty, elbows get out on the race track. We saw it with Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Hamilton, Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost."
'Split down the middle'
Not only does Priestley believe it may become increasingly difficult for McLaren to ensure harmony between its drivers, the Briton suggested a potentially fraught environment has the power to "destroy" the team altogether. Again drawing upon his first-hand experience, he highlighted the divisive situation between Hamilton and Alonso, when the latter used the early developments of the infamous ' Spygate' saga as leverage against the Woking outfit, underlining how poisonous the atmosphere had become. "I have never seen a team successfully manage a rivalry like that, and it can split the team down the middle like it did when I worked with Alonso and Hamilton," Priestley stated. "It can destroy the team as a whole. It can happen in 2025. It may be an impossible scenario for McLaren to handle in a nice and polite way."
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