Oscar Piastri has sparked a fresh team controversy ahead of the Las Vegas Grand Prix after reposting an Instagram graphic featuring a quote accusing McLaren of favouring teammate Lando Norris due to his nationality and star power.
The post, which appeared on the 24-year-old Australian’s official Instagram account for a few hours late on Friday night (AEDT) before being deleted, quoted former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone who is a critic of McLaren’s ‘Papaya Rules’ which dictate how their two drivers go racing against each other.
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While the repost was deleted by Piastri within a few hours, screenshots of the inflammatory quote on Piastri’s account were shared across social media through the early hours of Saturday morning (AEDT), reigniting speculation about internal friction at the Woking-based team during the dramatic 2025 F1 championship.
The graphic was originally posted by F1 fan account gpfansglobal and the quote was originally published by German media outlet Sport.De.
“McLaren prefers the English driver Norris,” the quote from the 95-year-old Ecclestone reads.
“He has more star quality and marketing appeal for them, has more camera presence and publicity. That’s probably why he’s better for McLaren.”
Ecclestone also criticised McLaren’s ‘Papaya Rules’ for how they seemingly always end up with Piastri losing out in part of the quote that wasn’t shared by Piastri..
“You can tell Piastri is upset and tired of them (the team rules), and the discussions about them are getting on his nerves,” Ecclestone said.
”The pressure is constantly increasing, and Piastri is frustrated that he can no longer win races so easily and that Norris is clearly being favoured within the team.”
The incident comes at a sensitive time for the team, with Piastri currently trailing Norris by 24 points in the F1 Drivers’ Championship.
The gap has widened in recent weeks following several strategic decisions that many experts have argued have disadvantaged the Australian to protect Norris’s title bid.
Piastri, who was 34 points clear in the standings after winning the Dutch Grand Prix in August, has not managed a podium finish in the past five races.
His social media blunder immediately became biggest talking point of the practice session at the Las Vegas GP among fans of the sport, with many debating whether the repost was a simple mistake by Piastri or a purposeful act of defiance.
“Likely a mistake since it’s very easy to click the repost button on Instagram but a terrible look nonetheless,” one F1 fan wrote on Reddit.
“That’s his second accidental repost about Lando now. He needs to get off social media or at the very least invest in a burner account.”
In fairness to Piastri, there is also a solid chance it was not only an accidental repost, but that it could have been made by a member of his management team with control of his account.
Piastri has done his best to downplay the team drama in public comments this year, saying in late September that the drivers were now “very aligned” on how to progress through the season together.
“We’ve had a lot of discussions and clarified a lot of things,” Piastri said.
“We know how we’re going to go racing going forwards, which is the most important thing.” He refused to go into details or reveal what the team had discussed in particular.
“A lot that is to stay for us because, ultimately, if we give out that information then we become very easy targets to pick off because everyone knows what we’re going to do,” he said.
“That’s all very aligned with all of us, but it stays in-house.”
Despite Team Principal Andrea Stella’s repeated insistence that the “Papaya Rules” of engagement are equitable, the perception of a hierarchy, particularly among Australian fans, has persisted throughout the season.
McLaren CEO Zak Brown has constantly shot down suggestions of favouritism, declaring that McLaren have two number one drivers and neither is given preference.
“We won’t do it (play favourites). We’re racers and we’re going racing,” Brown said.
Meanwhile, former F1 driver and commentator Martin Brundle has warned that McLaren’s attempts to micromanage the rivalry under the guise of their ‘Papaya Rules’ were risking team harmony.
“Perhaps McLaren should now just let their two drivers duke it out, gloves off, between themselves with zero interference,” Brundle wrote.
“Any nuclear fallout will be tempered by the need to finish races, score points, avoid FIA in-race penalties, avoid Verstappen catching the pair of them, and running out of the latest specification of parts as the team focuses on 2026.”
And in even stronger words, former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner recently urged the Aussie to jump ship and find another team as soon as possible despite being contracted to McLaren until the end of the 2028 season.
“Especially if he doesn’t win the championship. I think he has a good chance to get in any other good car,” Steiner said on the Red Flags podcast.
“He’s a good driver. And change sometimes is good. He’s young enough; he can adapt to it. He should, and I think he will.”
Piastri’s social media drama played out overnight as championship leader Lando Norris went fastest in the second practice for the Las Vegas Grand Prix in a session disrupted by two red flags, one for a loose manhole cover.
The Brit, who boasts a 24-point lead over McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri in the driver standings, completed his hot lap just before crimson fury struck the Las Vegas Strip.
Norris was quickest around the 6.201-km street circuit with a lap of 1min 33.602 secs — 0.029sec ahead of Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli.
Moments later, the session was red-flagged to check a manhole cover. Cars returned to the track with six minutes remaining,time enough for Charles Leclerc of Ferrari to end his session early with a gearbox issue, before a final red flag definitivelycurtailed the action.
“We didn’t manage to get too much from FP2 given the disruption, but we did get a slightly better feeling than in FP1,” said Norris, who was sixth in opening practice.
“We made some good progress and we’ve got a reasonable feeling altogether. Some positives to build on and some areas to tryand improve going into tomorrow.” Monaco’s Leclerc was third in a session where many of the drivers did not have a soft tyre run, including Piastri, who was 14th and 0.891 adrift of title rival Norris.
While Norris cannot secure the world championship crown this weekend, he could doom the repeat bid of four-time defending champion Max Verstappen, the Dutchman entering 49 points adrift.
Verstappen was ninth in his Red Bull in the second session, 0.503 off the pace. Leclerc set the fastest time in first practicein 1:34.802 with Thailand’s Alexander Albon second for Williams and Japan’s Yuki Tsunoda of Red Bull third.
A lack of grip marked the opening session on the Las Vegas strip as many cars skidded or failed to brake in some corners,Norris touching a wall but getting away with it.
The Formula 1 grid returns to action this weekend for the Las Vegas Grand Prix with the main race set to get underway from 3pm (AEDT) on Sunday.
– with AFP
