Guenther Steiner: If McLaren want the crown, park Lando’s title bid now
Max Verstappen is back in the room, and that’s making life awkward at McLaren. After a bruising Azerbaijan Grand Prix for the papaya side, the three-time champion strung together back-to-back wins in Italy and Baku to slash the points gap to Oscar Piastri to 69 with seven rounds left. Lando Norris, meanwhile, left the Caspian with only P7, even as he chipped Piastri’s lead down to 25.
That’s the cocktail that has Guenther Steiner urging McLaren to do the brutal thing: switch Norris to a supporting role and lock in Piastri’s run at the Drivers’ crown.
Speaking on the Red Flags podcast, the former Haas boss didn’t hedge. In his view, the “equal treatment” era at McLaren should end now. Not next month; not when Verstappen gets any closer. Now.
You don’t have to agree with Steiner to understand the logic. The Azerbaijan weekend was a mess for McLaren. Piastri brushed the wall in Q3, jumped the start, then hit the fence on Lap 1. Norris tagged the same Q3 barrier and salvaged seventh in a race that Verstappen controlled like the old days. The Constructors’ fight still tilts McLaren’s way, but the Drivers’ title is suddenly a live wire. When the reigning champion smells blood, you tidy up fast.
Steiner’s argument is the oldest in the book: a team is bigger than its drivers, and you avoid letting both shoot away a championship because neither will yield. McLaren’s been proud of its parity policy this season—understandably so, given how cleanly Norris and Piastri have fought—but parity is a luxury when a Verstappen charge is brewing.
Would McLaren really make their poster boy the No.2 overnight? Steiner thinks the badge on the trophy matters more than the face on the poster. He reckons Zak Brown should make the call immediately, if only to send a message to Verstappen and Red Bull that McLaren won’t gift them a route back.
There’s a recent case study that cuts both ways: Monza. McLaren did some in-race gymnastics there that showed both care for fairness and a practical streak. Piastri had jumped ahead of Norris through the stops after Lando suffered a slow service; the team later let Norris through as the quicker car. It was fair, clean and clever. It also proved McLaren will intervene when there’s something to be gained.
But Baku was a reality check. Andrea Stella didn’t sugarcoat it: at the sharp end of F1, you simply can’t stack errors. Not with Verstappen roaring again, not with Red Bull rediscovering rhythm after their early-season wobble. McLaren’s weekend was sprinkled with imprecision—two drivers clipping the wall in Q3, a false start, reliability niggles in practice. Stella called it out plainly: margins for error are shrinking, especially in a championship fight.
So what’s the right call? It’s not as simple as “make Lando the wingman.” Norris is driving the best season of his life and sits only 25 behind Piastri after Baku. He’s also the heartbeat of the team, commercially and culturally. Turning him into a blocker will hurt, however gently McLaren dress it up.
Yet the Verstappen variable changes everything. You don’t need to believe he’ll reel in 69 points to recognize the risk profile. Verstappen has a habit of turning “unlikely” into “inevitable” the minute a rival shows weakness. If McLaren trip over themselves once more while Red Bull stay sharp, the arithmetic goes from comfortable to nervy very quickly.
The cleanest solution? Clarity. If McLaren are serious about protecting the Drivers’ title, they need a hard rulebook for the final seven races: strategy priority to the lead contender; no inter-squad time loss; swaps executed without debate; and zero tolerance for avoidable errors. That doesn’t have to be an anti-Lando decree; it’s a pro-title stance. If Norris out-qualifies and out-races Piastri over the next couple of events, you can reassess. But heading into this phase with “let them race” as the default is exactly how titles slip.
Steiner’s timing might feel ruthless, but it also feels like how champions behave. McLaren have earned the right to aim for a double—Constructors’ and Drivers’—this year. The Constructors’ will reward the team’s depth and speed. The Drivers’ will demand something colder: discipline, hierarchy, and a risk ceiling set lower than the fans—or the drivers—might like.
Piastri versus Norris has been box office. Verstappen is the plot twist. McLaren can keep the show going and still control the ending, but only if they decide who the protagonist is before the final act.
