Andrea Stella explains whether McLaren will change approach if Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri fight each other for the title in 2025

Andrea Stella has outlined how McLaren will approach the situation should both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri find themselves fighting for the championship in 2025, with the team boss hopeful that this could be an “opportunity” rather than a “problem”.

The Woking squad enjoyed an increasingly strong season in 2024, a campaign in which they went from scoring points in the initial stages through to regularly battling for podiums and victories as the year progressed.

END OF YEAR REPORT: McLaren – A first constructors' title in 26 years, but can a drivers’ championship follow next year?

This run of form saw them overhaul Red Bull at the top of the constructors’ standings after Round 18 in Singapore, before going on to hold off a challenge from Ferrari to win the title for the first time since 1998.

Lando Norris, meanwhile, became Max Verstappen’s closest rival for the drivers’ championship but was unable to close the gap to the Dutchman. The Briton has voiced his confidence, however, about what could be possible in 2025.

ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - DECEMBER 08: Race winner Lando Norris of Great Britain and — McLaren won their first constructors' championship in 26 years at the end of the 2024 season

Should McLaren start the season with the level of performance that they ended 2024 with, both Norris and Piastri could arguably be in a position to bid for the title. While this was not a scenario that the squad faced last year, there were some team orders incidents which did not always play out entirely smoothly, including the call for Norris to let Piastri through at the end of the Hungarian Grand Prix.

When asked if the team would change their approach if Norris and Piastri are fighting each other for the championship in 2025, Stella responded: “First of all, I hope you are right [that they are fighting each other]. We do want to have that kind of problem.

“We worked very hard to have a problem of having a car in condition to win races and two drivers in condition to win races, and we know that this one in Formula 1 always comes with some complications.

“But these are complications that we have already faced this season to some extent. I think we have always approached that in a cohesive way. Both drivers were always fully aware that we need to find solutions that, first of all, put the interests of the team and then the interests of the drivers.

BAKU, AZERBAIJAN - SEPTEMBER 12: McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella looks on in the Paddock — Stella hopes that McLaren can have both Norris and Piastri battling for wins and the championship in 2025

“And so far, I think this has been a very positive process. It's a process that we plan to carry over onto next season. But before we think about this problem, we need to think… We call it problem, potentially it's more of an opportunity.”

Stella went on to acknowledge that the team’s priority will be to provide both drivers with a car capable of battling for the title from the start of the campaign, something that they were unable to do in 2024.

“Our focus is to make sure that, from a technical point of view, we give Lando and Oscar a car that is in condition to fight for the championship,” the Team Principal continued.

“Because had we done this at the start of this season, without having some underperformance in the early races of the season, then we would have been in condition to fight for the drivers' championship for longer.”