No team orders: McLaren plans to 'let 'em race' as Piastri and Norris battle for F1 championship

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Just five races into the Formula 1 season and there's already a compelling championship battle with inner organization implications.

Oscar Piastri has aggressively shown he won't sit behind teammate Lando Norris, allowing Norris to become the anointed No. 1 driver at McLaren Racing. The Aussie did it by winning three of the first five races this season to take hold of the lead in the driver standings.

Norris, at one time McLaren's designated champion-in-waiting, sits 10 points back from Piastri with one victory on the season. And as F1 shifts to the United States for the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday, McLaren boss Zak Brown insisted there will be no internal issues with this championship fight and, for now, he'll let it play out naturally.

''Let 'em race,'' Brown vowed to The Associated Press. He will not designate a No. 1 and issue any team orders until a time comes in which one of the drivers has clearly separated himself in the title race.

''We'll only make that decision if it becomes clear, like it did last year at a certain point,'' Brown said. ''Until then they will get the same treatment. There may be instances when one has an upgrade that the other doesn't have yet, but that's the extent of it right now. We want to let them race.''

Norris earned his first career victory at Miami last year when he snapped Max Verstappen's two-race winning streak at the event staged around Hard Rock Stadium. Norris, hyped as McLaren's great hope, had picked up the derogatory moniker ''Lando No Wins'' when he arrived in Miami, where he promptly shed the label and had a rowdy South Beach victory celebration.

''I kind of envy Lando for getting his first race win here, because I'm sure Sunday night was definitely a cool one,'' said rival Pierre Gasly. "It's one of those races you want the Sunday to go well so you get a good reason to party on Sunday night.

How was Norris' party?

''I don't remember,'' he said with a sheepish grin.

Norris was then asked if he's concerned that Piastri has seized momentum by winning three races since Norris' lone victory.

''Not worried at all. He's doing a good job and he deserves it. Nothing more than that,'' Norris said. "I don't believe so much in the momentum stuff. I'm doing what I can. I've clearly made some mistakes and not at the level I need to be, but I believe I can be at that level soon enough.

''It's round six of 24. I'm not going to say that forever, but I know I need to get a move on and get into gear a little bit,'' Norris continued. ''The speed is there, the pace is there, the race pace is definitely there. It's just one thing I need to tidy up. It's a difficult thing, but I'm confident I'll get it.''

Hamilton admits to struggles with Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton's move to Ferrari this season has been slow going for the seven-time champion and he's admitted the struggles shown so far could continue the entire year.

Hamilton is in his first year with Ferrari after 12 seasons at Mercedes. He won the sprint race in Shanghai with Ferrari but has yet to log a top-four finish in any Grand Prix. Hamilton trails teammate Charles Leclerc by 16 points in the driver standings.

He likened his current transitioning to when he first joined Mercedes.

''The first six months were tough getting attuned to working with new people. Obviously, the engineers I'm working with now are used to setting up a car for a different driver and a different driving style, and I'm used to driving a car with a different driving style,'' Hamilton said. ''So it's a combination of a bunch of different things. I'm definitely working hard to adjust to this one for sure.''

He's also trying to adjust to spending more time in Italy, a country where he's struggling to learn the language but gorging on the food.

''Trying to stay off the pizzas and the pasta, which I'm not doing very well with,'' Hamilton said. "I had like three pizzas in two days. I have my hookup – he keeps bringing me a pizza.

''Not living in Italy currently, but spending more time is still something I really want to try and figure out how to do through the year,'' he continued. ''My Italian is not really progressing, so I've probably got to throw myself more into the thick of it. But the team's been well. Lots of changes, a huge amount of work has been going on from my first days there.''

U.S. television rights

F1 president Stefano Domenicali said he had no update to give on the series' ongoing efforts to find a television partner in the United States.

ESPN is in the final year of its current contract with F1 but informed the series it would not be renewing for 2026. ESPN reportedly pays Formula One Management an estimated $75 million to $90 million annually for the rights to air F1 content in the U.S.

Domenicali has been touting the importance of F1's positioning in North America, and the series has dramatically grown the last five years. F1 now races three times a year in the U.S. — and announced a 10-year extension with Miami on Friday that takes the race through 2041 — and five times total in North America. F1 next season will also have both Ford and General Motors in the series — Ford as a support partner with Red Bull and Cadillac as a factory-backed 11th team.

''There are discussions in place and there are several partners that are interested to talk,'' Domenicali said Friday. ''The good news is that there is a lot of interest and we need to make sure we are credible in the landscape where we know very well there are major league sports that are very, very important for this market. We need to find the right place with the right content to offer the supportive fans in the U.S.''

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