Should Piastri leave McLaren?

Looking back at how things transpired for Piastri, there is no doubt that it would hurt deeply for Piastri. I think the most painful aspect of it, is the realisation that the team was willing to risk his clear championship chances to help Norris have a chance of winning it.

It has always been a convention in F1 that a team would put all of their support with the driver that enters the second half of the season leading the championship charge by at least a full points of one Grand Prix win; 25 points gap if you like. Piastri, with 40 points, had met that criteria. Most of us thought McLaren were going to back him to guarantee winning the driver's championship.

But McLaren did the opposite, risking their driver championship chance and destroying Piastri's chances in the process. We watched with interest as Verstappen closed in race after race. Fortunately, they did enough to give Norris the lift he needed to win the championship. But at one point, it was looking like a daft idea.

If you were Piastri looking back at this, how would you feel? I personally would be livid. It is hard to see how he would trust McLaren management to nurture his quest to be world champion. He would be living through the 2026 season, second-guessing every aspect at race weekends. The question behind his mind would be, are these guys interested in my best interest?

When a driver gets into this mindset, it eats into their performance and state of mind. Unfortunately, McLaren has started the decline of a truly brilliant prospect; that is, if he remains in the McLaren squad. Without wishing it, McLaren has driven their brightest prospect out of the team. He is unlikely to be happy or trusting while reliving the 2025 experience in the team. It would take more effort than necessary to reproduce the same level of performance as we saw in 2024/5, with the burden of doubt and despair.

It is only natural to expect Piastri to seek a home in another team in the near future. Brown's McLaren seems to have a knack for pissing off their talent. But where would Piastri go? I see a number of possibilities; a swap with Leclerc to Ferrari is one, a swap with Russel to Mercedes is another. A switch to Aston Martin to replace a retiring Alonso or Hamilton is also a possibility. All of these possibilities are available within the next two seasons. Thus, the chances of Piastri departing McLaren are a real possibility.

Should he depart a championship-winning team? Conventional wisdom would say no. But with a new era of regulations, there is no guarantee that McLren would continue to be the dominant team. Thus, anything is possible.

McLaren has betrayed Piastri; he would not need to feel allegiance to their false promise of future support. People are always the way to experience them, they rarely are any different.

While Norris did what was needed to win the 2025 driver's championship, it had an air of Verstappen's 2021. It was not available until it was made available by forces external to the car. Neither of these men would have won those titles without the external help. In this case, McLaren, putting their support in the lagging car at the expense of the leading one.

The perspective would be different if Piastri were competitive throughout the ascendance of Norris. The actual story was different. Piastri languished in the midfield while Norris flourished at the front. A surprising drop of performance from the highly dominant championship leader.

Hence, McLaren did Norris no favours really. They gave him a driver's title with a huge question mark on it. When talking about the 2025 season, we shall always talk about Piastri, and what could have been.