Berger says there's 'pressure on' Piastri and Norris.

      "When two teammates are of comparable skill, the pressure intensifies."

      McLaren's CEO Zak Brown has refuted increasing speculation that the team is giving preference to Lando Norris in the championship race at the expense of his struggling teammate, Oscar Piastri. In an appearance on F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast, Brown rejected the notion that one driver was being favored over the other. "I would rather have another driver overtake our drivers, who are tied in points, than have to tell one of them, 'I know you aspire to win the world championship, but we’ve decided you’re not going to achieve it this year. Just give up,'" he stated. Citing McLaren’s own past, Brown expressed a preference for a scenario similar to 2007, when Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton clashed internally while Kimi Raikkonen captured the title for Ferrari. Sky pundit Martin Brundle concurred, emphasizing that the concept of favoritism "doesn't make any sense." "I can assure you that the team won’t spend $400 million each year, employ 1,500 people, and attempt to make one of the cars a bit slower," Brundle remarked. "Everyone involved with Oscar’s car expects him to recover. His performance in the first half of the season was remarkable—one doesn’t simply lose that ability." However, Sky Deutschland’s Peter Hardenacke suggested that tensions are escalating behind the scenes, indicating that Piastri and his manager Mark Webber might already be considering other options. "I don’t think I saw Webber without his phone even once all weekend," Hardenacke recalled from the most recent Grand Prix in Mexico. "I sense that he and Piastri are looking at the driver market. It’s a challenging situation." F1 legend Gerhard Berger also supported Piastri, stating to Corriere dello Sport: "Ups and downs are part of the game. When two teammates are of similar ability, the pressure mounts—and it would be the same for Verstappen if there was another driver of equal caliber alongside him." However, not everyone shares that level of patience. On the Pelas Pistas podcast, former F1 driver Christian Fittipaldi warned that Piastri's decline must come to an end immediately. "If Piastri doesn't climb out of the rut he fell into in Baku, he may never recover," he mentioned. "His results—fifth, sixth—are not sustainable while others are winning. At Interlagos, Lando will have the advantage in terms of conditions." Meanwhile, Ralf Schumacher believes Piastri may already be on Aston Martin's radar. "The chatter in the paddock is clear—Aston Martin is urgently seeking a change, possibly for 2026 or 2027," he stated on Backstage Boxengasse. "One of the candidates is Oscar Piastri—I can say with reasonable certainty that discussions are already underway."