McLaren found themselves wrapped up in a controversial saga throughout the 2025 season.

Oscar Piastri finished third in the standings in 2025 (Image: Getty)

Marcin Budkowski, the former Alpine executive director who spent seven years working for McLaren, believes that the team could have been guilty of ‘unconscious bias’ against Oscar Piastri, despite planning to treat both of their drivers equally throughout the 2025 campaign

As soon as it became clear that McLaren possessed the car to beat in 2025, Zak Brown and Andrea Stella publicly declared that they would have two ‘number-one drivers’ for the season, giving both stars an equal opportunity to claim their maiden Drivers’ Championship titles.

The Woking-based squad attempted to implement the ‘papaya rules’ throughout the year to mixed effect, and after team orders left Lando Norris in a favourable position in Budapest and Monza, some fans started to accuse Brown’s squad of favouring the British driver, who had been with the team since 2019.

Norris was subsequently booed on the podium in Mexico and Brazilian Grands Prix, but the 26-year-old had the last laugh, winning the World Championship at the season finale in Abu Dhabi by two points. At the same time, team-mate Piastri slipped to third in the standings, behind Max Verstappen.

According to Budkowski, team orders may have influenced the outcome of the title fight. “That cost Oscar what should have been a very, very dominant win from a very dominant weekend [in Qatar],” he told the RacingNews365 podcast.

“I’m not going to name that person, but we did have a long chat about the season, and they did say that they felt a bit like the McLaren camp had favoured Lando.

Lando Norris went on to win the title (Image: Getty)

“And I said, ‘You know what? I suspect that if I spoke to someone from Lando’s camp, they would probably say that they felt there were some moments where the team favoured Oscar’. And he said, ‘Yes, you’re probably right’. I don’t really believe that the team favoured Lando, at least not consciously or strategically, if you want.”

Budkowski added: “Whether there were some elements where Lando, who has been the wonder kid of the team for years, there was an unconscious kind of bias towards him, that can’t be excluded.

“We all have our unconscious biases in various aspects of our lives, but I don’t think it was a strategic decision. I don’t think it was discussed, or it was conscious.”

Frustratingly for Piastri, there is no guarantee that he will be able to respond and fight for another World Championship in 2026. With new technical regulations promising to shake up the on-track action, the pecking order is expected to change, and McLaren face a tough fight to remain the frontrunners ahead of Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull and other rivals.