Bernie Ecclestone alleges McLaren has slowed down Oscar Piastri in blatant favoritism for Lando Norris

Bernie Ecclestone has alleged that McLaren is 'slowing down' Oscar Piastri, using 'various methods' to help Lando Norris in the F1 drivers' championship battle. The founder of the Formula One Group claimed that Norris has more star power and is more marketable, which has made the team prefer him over his teammate.

Piastri had been leading the drivers' championship since Round 5 of the season in Jeddah. His biggest lead over Norris was 34 points, and over third-placed Max Verstappen was 104 points. However, the Australian driver's results have tanked in the second half of the season, while his British teammate seems to have made a huge leap forward. After the Mexico GP, Piastri trails Norris by one point, and has Verstappen 35 points behind in P3.

Moreover, McLaren has also made a couple of controversial team order decisions, which have seemingly favored Lando Norris. Bernie Ecclestone feels this is absolutely the case. In an interview with Sport.de, he said:

"Yes, that's how it looks. McLaren favors Norris in the second half of the season."

Lando Norris with Zak Brown at the F1 Hungarian Grand Prix - Source: Getty

The 94-year-old highlighted how Oscar Piastri was "clearly faster" at the beginning of the season, but McLaren has recently "more often slowed down the Australian using various methods."

"McLaren prefers the English driver Norris," Ecclestone added. "He has more star power and marketing qualities for them, more camera presence and public exposure. That's why it's probably better for McLaren. You can tell Piastri is upset and tired of them, and the discussions about them are getting on his nerves. The pressure is constantly increasing, and Piastri is frustrated that he can no longer win races so easily and that Norris is clearly being favored within the team."

After the Mexico Grand Prix, Oscar Piastri shared that something about his driving style in McLaren's MCL39 challenger feels no longer suitable. While he labeled it a mysterious issue, team principal Andrea Stella gave a plausible explanation about track conditions creating a performance gap between him and Lando Norris.

Jacques Villeneuve floats interesting theory about Oscar Piastri's loss of performance against Lando Norris

Oscar Piastri at the F1 Mexico Grand Prix - Source: Getty

Former F1 champion Jacques Villeneuve claimed that it isn't Oscar Piastri who has lost performance over the last few race weekends, but Lando Norris who has risen to the challenge. In the last two weekends in Austin and Mexico City, Piastri finished P5, while Norris finished on the podium both times, including a dominant victory in Mexico.

While F1 fans cooked up conspiracy theories about McLaren sabotaging Oscar Piastri, Villeneuve had a different perspective.

"Piastri is not stepping up," Villeneuve said via Sky Sports. He was already at his limit. Was it actually Piastri stepping up or Lando just wasn't on it? He kept saying he wasn't comfortable with the car. Maybe that made Piastri complacent a bit. Lando stepped up. He is driving faster than he's been all season."

F1 heads to Brazil for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix this upcoming weekend with a new championship leader for the first time in nearly seven months.

Edited by Yash Kotak