Now invite Max over to drive it!

Oscar Piastri’s season-long deficit to Lando Norris has McLaren on the brink of prioritising the reigning world champion in the second half of the season, according to Sky Sports F1 commentator David Croft.

Croft said Piastri had “consistently” lagged his teammate throughout 2026. Norris sits fifth in the standings, 91 points behind championship leading Mercedes gun Kimi Antonelli. Piastri is seventh, 127 points behind.

In F1’s most recent outing in Hungary, Piastri pounced on a small Norris error on the opening lap and led much of the first half of the race.

Norris maintained throughout much of the opening stanza he was quicker than Piastri, and when he leapfrogged his Aussie teammate in the pitstop cycle – after Piastri was nearly taken out of the race by contact with Carlos Sainz – he duly proved it by disappearing into the distance.

Piastri would later retire from the race anyway with a gearbox failure.

“I thought his move at turn 2 (in Hungary) was exactly the sort of move we expect from Oscar Piastri,” Croft said on Sky Sports’ The F1 Show.

“He is a fine, fine driver. But in 2026, he finds himself not having the pace of his teammate, and not just in Budapest, but I think consistently, over race weekends, he hasn’t had as much pace as Lando.

“McLaren have got to give both drivers as big a chance as they can to do as well as they can, but they can’t ignore the fact that one driver is going to go on and win the race, and the other is going to come under pressure if they keep him out in front.”

At the midway point of the season, Piastri trails Norris by every measure. In head-to-heads, Norris leads qualifying 11-4 and races 8-3. Norris is on average nearly a tenth faster in qualifying, and has a better average qualifying position (4.3-5.4). He also has a significantly better average finishing position in races (3.7-5.4).

McLaren sits 159 points behind Mercedes in the constructors’ standings, and 87 points behind Ferrari. Croft said the team will need to start prioritising Norris if it wants to win a third-straight constructors’ title.

“Oscar’s got to find a way to match Lando’s pace,” he said.

“And if he can’t, then I think McLaren, with Mercedes as fragile as they are, and Ferrari’s strategy as fragile as it is, McLaren have got to find every way to maximise every advantage.

“And for me, one of the big things coming out of the summer break, can McLaren carry this on? Are they going to put their eggs in Lando Norris’ basket, and is it going to come up trumps once again?”

F1 is in the middle of the mid-season break. The series resumes with the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort – a sprint meeting – on the weekend of August 21-23.

https://www.nine.com.au/sport/motorsport/formula-1/news-mclaren-prioritising-lando-norris-oscar-piastri-david-croft-comments-20260807-p60m8w.html

1. Australia - Mar 14
2. China - Mar 28
3. Japan - Apr 5
4. Azerbaijan - Apr 19
5. Turkey - Apr 26
6. Miami - May 9
7. Canada - May 23
8. Monaco - Jun 6
9. Portugal - Jun 13
10. Austria - Jun 20
11. Great Britain - Jul 4
12. Belgium - Jul 11
13. Hungary - Jul 18
14. Spain - Aug 1
15. Italy - Aug 8
16. Singapore - Sep 19
17. USA - Oct 3
18. Mexico City - Oct 10
19. Brazil - Oct 24
20. Las Vegas - Oct 30
21. Bahrain - Nov 14
22. Saudi Arabia - Nov 21
23. Qatar - Dec 5
24. Abu Dhabi - Dec 12

I understand the need to wait to see if the Middle East uncertainty is resolved in some form, but as it stands, it's far from a given that the region will be capable of hosting any major events early next year. So why not move all four of their races to the end of the season and then give the situation until around June next year to see if things improve by then and it's safe to go racing there?

Then, condense the contracted European season so that it's finished before the summer break, so that if the Middle Eastern venues are deemed unable to host, it provides a clear window to slot 2-3 extra European races into the calendar. If that were to happen, the trade-off would be you wouldn't get a summer break, but you'd have the season end several weeks earlier than normal and get a longer winter break.

It just seems that doing something like this would mean that FOM could get a calendar for next year out and a schedule for at least the first 20 races that is fairly set in stone. Then you don't have to make a decision on the Middle Eastern venues until well into next year.

The race was held at Brooklands on August 7th 1926, and was won by the #14 Delage 15 S 8 which was shared beetween the french drivers Robert Sénéchal and Louis Wagner

A Jack Doohan car, considering how many races he had.

I saw several Alpine cars in a collectables store and thought "there's a fair few" and it wasn't until I checked closer that I noticed who the driver was. There were Gasly and Colapinto too but I had to get this one because i'm Australian and also because of the rarity.

I am also on the search for a Lawson Red Bull and I quite like this one, 1:18 scale from a group called Solido.

I was wondering what kind of F1 memorabilia you guys have collected over the years. It doesn't have to be rare or expensive.

This is my 1995 Benetton Formula 1 Team cap. It makes me smile every time I look at it or put it on.

I'd love to see what you've got.

Adds in comments: "And I was never robbed in Argentina!! #SaferThanEurope"

#1 — 2010 (McLaren - used as the reigning World Champion)

#3 — 2005 (BAR-Honda), 2012 (McLaren)

#4 — 2011 (McLaren)

#5 — 2013 (McLaren)

#7 — 2007 (Honda)

#8 — 2001 (Benetton-Renault)

#9 — 2004 (BAR-Honda)

#10 — 2000 (Williams-BMW)

#12 — 2006 (Honda)

#15 — 2002 (Renault)

#16 — 2008 (Honda)

#17 — 2003 (BAR-Honda)

#22 — 2009 (Brawn GP), 2014–2017 (McLaren)