Juan Pablo Montoya makes McLaren prediction after previous team orders debacle

Juan Pablo Montoya expects McLaren to decide which driver to back out of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri after 10 races in F1 2025.

The topic of team orders was a tricky one for McLaren to deal with during the 2024 season as they returned to title contention.

Even though Norris was McLaren’s best hope of winning the title, it wasn’t until Azerbaijan that Piastri was informed of their plan to deploy team orders.

This came after three races (Austria sprint, Hungary and Italy) where Piastri finished ahead of Norris and cost his teammate crucial points in the championship.

Norris insisted that he wanted to beat Piastri fairly, only benefitting from team orders in the Brazil sprint.

Speaking to Crash.net via CasinoApps, Montoya gave his view on McLaren’s driver situation ahead of the new season.

“Lando Norris did a really good job of stepping up last season, because I really though Oscar Piastri was going to get the better of him,” Montoya said.

“Piastri needs to step up this season too, if he can put enough pressure on Norris, it will be interesting to see how their partnership unfolds.

“McLaren need to say to both drivers at the start of the season ‘we’re 100 per cent even, there will be no bias, we want both cars to perform but we will focus and give the opportunities to whoever is leading the championship’.

“McLaren will make a decision on who to prioritise after 10 races, I’d say. That should give a good indication of who will be in the running for the championship.”

Are McLaren favourites ahead of F1 2025?

McLaren clinched their first F1 constructors’ title since 1998 last year.

For the majority of the season, McLaren had the fastest car on the grid, but failed to capitalise on it through driver error or strategic mistakes.

With the rules remaining stable for the winter, McLaren will be fancying their chances of another title bout.