'Won't be team orders': Oscar Piastri's title bid 'protected' as key contract detail revealed
Oscar Piastri is "protected" from McLaren teammate Lando Norris in his challenge for the 2025 F1 world championship.
According to 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve, a clause in the Aussie's new contract, announced on the eve of the Australian Grand Prix, forbids McLaren from giving priority in a race to Lando Norris.
The two McLaren drivers are expected to be main protagonists in the fight for this year's title. After the first two races, Norris holds the advantage.
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"They cannot give Lando priority over Oscar because of the contract. He has a contract that protects him," Villeneuve told CardPlayer.
Oscar Piastri ahead of teammate Lando Norris during the Chinese Grand Prix. LAT Images
"As long as both drivers can win the championship, there won't be team orders unless there's something significantly big for the constructors' title or if one of them is having an issue in a race like last year."
What that likely means is while Piastri is still a mathematical chance to win the world championship, he cannot be ordered to let Norris past to improve his own challenge.
It's a common contract clause up and down pitlane, although one only usually afforded to the No.1 driver. McLaren famously have a 'No No.1' policy.
In 2010, many believed Red Bull should have put all their eggs in Mark Webber's basket when he led the championship late in the season, but they were forbidden from doing so by a similar clause in Sebastian Vettel's contract.
Piastri and Norris in the Shanghai paddock. Formula 1 via Getty Images
Vettel would go on to win three of the last four races to claim his maiden world championship – the first of four consecutive triumphs. Webber finished third.
No Australian has won the F1 world championship since Alan Jones for Williams in 1980.
Villeneuve explained the last race weekend in China epitomised the McLaren pair. He described Piastri as a "cool cat", as Norris made mistakes under pressure.
"Oscar was better under pressure than Lando in China," he said.
"Lando was quicker the whole weekend, but whenever it counted, he made mistakes in qualifying that put him behind and then because of that, he couldn't race as well.
"Piastri was more of a cool cat. He maximised his weekend. He had a good qualifying, a good start and then as we saw, he did a good job in the lead. Lando was quick but he was behind, and he overheated his brakes.
"Sometimes you don't need to be the quickest, you just need to have a better weekend and not make mistakes and perform better under pressure."
Norris and Piastri are a win apiece after Melbourne and Shanghai. Norris leads the drivers' championship by eight points over Max Verstappen.
Piastri sits fourth, only 10 points behind.
Practice for the Japanese Grand Prix begins Friday (AEDT).
