Bernie repeats favouritism claim

Posted on November 7, 2025

But Oscar’s confident he can still win!

F1 LEGEND BERNIE ECCLESTONE has repeated his claim that McLaren favours Lando Norris over teammate Oscar Piastri for the 2025 World Championship title.

In an interview this week with RTL/ntv and sport.de – one of Germany’s top digital news portals, broadcast throughout Europe – Bernie doubled down on his stance.

Bernie, who is 95, believes it is better for McLaren – from a “marketing” standpoint – if Lando Norris becomes world champion, and that Oscar is getting “upset and tired” about the ‘papaya rules’ of engagement talk.

But despite all the media hype surrounding him, the 23-year old Aussie superstar is delighfully upbeat about his extraordinary predicament!

“I mean people can think what they want to think, Right?” Oscar told Fox Sports, before this weekend’s vital Sprint and Grand Prix races in Brazil.

“But for me, I know I’ve still got what it takes to win the championship. Yeah, there’s been bumps along the road, but there’s been bumps along the road for everyone this year at different points.

“So I’m confident I’ve learned a lot of helpful things, from the last couple of weekends in particular. And I’m confident as well that I can still perform at some of the heights of success we’ve had this year.

“There’s still a lot of laps to go this year, and I’m very confident I can still win!”

And that’s precisely what Oscar’s swelling ranks of fans across the globe want to hear!

Bernie: Oscar Piastri ‘frustrated’

Image courtesy PlanetF1.com

After Lando’s retirement late in the August 25 Dutch Grand Prix, Oscar became the overwhelming favourite for the F1 2025 title, moving 34 points clear out front and driving like an absolute champion.

Since those heady days, it would appear the wheels have well and truly fallen off the Aussie’s once mighty McLaren. With the mojo deserting the luckless Melbournian.

And it became decidedly worse for Oscar after a mediocre performance in Mexico City last up, as Lando returned to the top of the championship for the first time since Saudi Arabia, back in March!

As we reported in xxxx, Bernie gave his approval to the conspiracy theory – widely shared on social media – that McLaren fancied Lando for the title.

That only further fuelled the unsubstantiated claims doing the rounds worldwide, ones which claim Lando is the driver McLaren wants to win the title.

Bernie even suggested McLaren has “slowed the Australian down more often using various means,” adding: “McLaren favours the English driver Norris.

“He (Lando) has more star and marketing qualities for them, has more camera presence and publicity. That’s probably why it’s better for McLaren.”

And Bernie’s final message: “The pressure is mounting, and Piastri is frustrated that he can no longer win races so easily and that Norris is obviously favoured within the team,”

But, as one commentator pointed out, for McLaren to give up on fairness now, and try to move one driver into the No.2 role, would reflect badly on the team. But also appear illogical with Lando and Oscar having converged in the title fight.

Brazil’s Sprint offers more points to the brave!

Yes, this Brazil Grand Prix is a Sprint weekend, offering priceless additional points to the main event’s tally. So, this would seem a chance for all contendersASX.COM.AU to move further ahead in the championship race.

Remembering, of course, that the Red Bull tornado known as Max Verstappen is still well and truly in the hunt for this year’s elusive in his trusty steed (pictured above). Maybe for the last time this season.

Because we’ll never forget Max won the 2024 Brazil Grand Prix, after starting from 17th on the grid (due to a grid penalty) – and charged through the field in his mighty Red Bull to claim victory at Interlagos.

Oscar started on the fourth row, in 8^th, last year and drove a simply brilliant race to finish 3^rd.

Polesitter Lando ended up 6^th.

And I so hope that our young champion Oscar Piastri can extricate himself from the perilous position he finds himself – as he steps aboard his ride (above) to remain in contention early Monday morning, WA time, to keep those hopes alive for a World Title.

Ayrton Senna, Nelson Piquet, Emerson Fittipaldi – Champions All!

Brazil has strong links to the sport, with a rich racing legacy, as well as being home to several great champions who have left an indelible mark on the history of Formula 1.

There have been 33 Formula One drivers who have represented Brazil, including three world champions.

Ayrton Senna – the three-time title winner – (pictured left) with mentor and dual champ Emerson Fittipaldi, is regarded as among the greatest drivers in F1 history.

Nelson Piquet also won the title three times.

Gabriel – sole Brazilian F1 driver

Rubens Barrichello, who used to hold the record for the most races contested with 322 starts, finished as the championship runner-up in two seasons.

When Felipe Massa retired after the 2017 season, there were no Brazilian drivers entered for the World Championship – the first time this had occurred since 1969.

This year Gabriel Bortoleto (pictured above) joined Sauber for the 2025 season, becoming the 33rd Brazilian Formula One driver after four seasons’ absence of his country’s drivers.

Rain generally a factor at Interlagos

The Interlagos circuit, with an interesting mix of straights and corner types, usually provides a great show and close racing, with sudden rain-storms often adding to the uncertainty of the final result.

Named in honour of Brazilian racer José Carlos Pace, it is 4.309 kilometres long – built between 1938 and 1940 – and takes much of its inspiration from three classic circuits: Brooklands in England, Roosevelt Raceway in the United States and Montlhery in France.

The layout at Interlagos is interesting, with hints of an anticlockwise oval circuit, which the drivers deal with 71 times in the race.

It boasts 15 corners with relatively balanced lateral and longitudinal forces that do not put any undue strain on the tyres, as they are subjected to loads distributed equally between the front and rear axles.

The combination of several straights and much twistier sections offers plenty of overtaking opportunities, although it also means there’s a higher risk of Safety Cars and incidents.

Sao Paulo, Interlagos, Brazil

At this time of year, the weather and temperature can be very variable, with a risk of frequent rain and the inevitable use of wet weather tyres.

A further peculiarity of Interlagos is the bumpy nature of the track, as a result of it being built on relatively unstable ground, way back when!

Just one more challenge for drivers and teams to deal with in terms of set-up and tyre management.

The Compounds

This year’s compound selection for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix harks back to 2023, with the C2, C3 and C4 as Hard, Medium and Soft – one step harder than the trio used last year.

Last year, the dry weather tyres were not required for the race, but when used on Friday and Saturday morning, they showed high levels of wear, as well as graining, especially on the rear axle.

If conditions are similar, with the inevitable variations due to the ageing of the asphalt, the decision to bring harder compounds could thus extend the performance life of the tyres, which are already more resistant to degradation than the 2024 range.

That might allow the Soft to come into play, which last year was only used for Sprint qualifying.

Statistics Corner

So far Brazil has hosted 51 Formula 1 World Championship Grands Prix, 47 named after the country and the last four after the city of Sao Paulo.

Current venue Interlagos has hosted 41 races, starting with the inaugural event in 1973. In 1978 and from 1981 to 1989, the race was held at Rio de Janeiro’s Jacarepaguà circuit.

Of the races run at the José Carlos Pace circuit, the most successful driver is Michael Schumacher with four wins and ten podium finishes.

If Max Verstappen or Lewis Hamilton were to win this year, they would equal the German champion’s record at the Paulista track.

Of the teams, Scuderia Ferrari leads the way on 9 wins, just one ahead of McLaren. Interlagos was also the scene of George Russell’s maiden Formula 1 win in 2022.

RACE SCHEDULE

My Time WA

BRAZIL GRAND PRIX

Autódromo José Carlos Pace | 07 – 10 Nov

Friday 7th November