In the high-stakes, billion-dollar theatre of Formula 1, there is one unwritten rule: to win the war, you must unite your armies. Yet, with just five races left in a brutal championship fight, the McLaren Formula 1 team is making a shocking, terrifying gamble. They are choosing to let their armies fight each other.

As Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, a relentless force of nature, closes in for what could be his fifth consecutive world championship, McLaren is gripped by indecision. The team possesses what is, by most accounts, the fastest car on the grid. They also have two phenomenally talented drivers, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, both with a mathematical shot at the title. But instead of marshaling their full force behind one driver to stop the Verstappen surge, team boss Andrea Stella has confirmed the team is “a long way” from choosing.

This indecision is the decision. It is a stunning refusal to back their championship leader, Oscar Piastri. And for those who know the sport’s haunted past, it is a chilling echo of the single greatest strategic blunder in McLaren’s own storied history.

The threat is no longer theoretical. A short time ago, Max Verstappen was more than 70 points adrift and looked to be out of the fight. Now, he sits just 40 points behind Piastri, and the gap is shrinking with terrifying speed. The Dutchman has won three of the last four races, including a perfect 33-point haul at the United States Grand Prix, winning both the sprint and the main event. Red Bull has found a new gear, and Verstappen is driving at a level of untouchable brilliance. The pressure on McLaren is palpable, and as Stella admits, “it’s getting worse.”

Every point now matters. Every position is critical. Which is why McLaren’s official stance is so baffling. “We want to remain fair and we want to apply equality to both drivers,” Stella stated, explaining the team’s philosophy. Their goal, he says, is to ensure the world champion drives a McLaren. But in their quest for “fairness,” they are actively creating a scenario that could ensure neither driver does.

The problem with this approach is being broadcast in high-definition at every race weekend. Every time Piastri and Norris race each other, they take points away from each other. This infighting provides a critical advantage to their sole rival, Verstappen, who happily picks up the scraps.

The sprint race crash in Austin was a “perfect example.” With both McLaren drivers pushing the limit against each other, they crashed out. While they stood in the gravel, Verstappen went on to win, collecting maximum points. These are the moments that decide championships, and right now, they are all falling in Red Bull’s favor.

For seasoned F1 observers, this situation is agonizingly familiar. The “ghost of 2007” is looming large over the McLaren garage. That year, McLaren had a dominant car with two superstar drivers: the reigning world champion Fernando Alonso and a generational rookie talent, Lewis Hamilton. The team refused to pick one over the other, allowing them to wage a bitter, season-long civil war. The result? They so thoroughly sabotaged each other that both drivers lost the championship to Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen by a single, heartbreaking point.

McLaren won the most races that season but ended the year with nothing. Now, many are terrified that history is repeating itself. The team is once again paralyzed, and their refusal to make a tough decision could “let Vstappen sneak through and take the title.” The similarities are, as the source notes, “uncomfortable.”

If McLaren were to make the pragmatic choice and back one driver, the question becomes: which one? This is where the team finds itself trapped in an “almost impossible problem.”

On paper, the “obvious choice” is Oscar Piastri. He is the championship leader. He holds the 40-point buffer over Verstappen. By all historical precedent, he is the driver who “deserves the team’s full support.” You back the driver with the best shot, and right now, that is Piastri.

But there is a terrifying complication. The leader is “struggling.” Piastri’s fifth-place finish in Austin continued a worrying run of form that has seen him fail to reach the podium in the last three races. He even admitted after the race that he doesn’t have “any great ideas” on how to fix his performance woes. The driver who should be the obvious choice is suddenly showing “signs of struggling under the championship pressure.” To back him now would be a huge gamble.

So, what about Lando Norris? Here, the problem is perfectly inverted. Norris is “driving with confidence and doing well.” He finished second in Austin, demonstrating “better speed and mental strength” than his teammate. Many insiders believe Norris is the driver “more able to beat Vstappen in a straight fight.” He is the man in form.

The problem? He’s the “less obvious choice” based on the numbers. Norris sits 14 points behind Piastri in the standings. To back him would mean ordering the championship leader to move aside for the driver behind him. This could be a morale-destroying, politically explosive move within the team.

This is the nightmare dilemma: The driver in the best championship position is in the worst form. The driver in the best form is in the worst championship position. There is “no clear right answer.”

This is more than just a strategic puzzle; it’s a deeply human one. Neither driver is willing to surrender. When asked if the team should implement team orders, Piastri was clear: “I don’t know, I don’t think so.” He is “not ready to accept a supporting role.” And why should he? With massive rule changes coming in 2026, there is no guarantee McLaren will have a winning car next year. This season might be the “best and possibly only chance either Pastri or Norris has of becoming world champion.” Neither man wants to give up his dream.

McLaren is now facing two paths to disaster.

The first, and most likely, is the risk of doing nothing. This is the 2007 repeat. If they “continue to let both drivers race freely,” Verstappen could keep winning while the McLaren drivers trade paint and take points from each other. The “worst thing that could happen” would be losing the championship to Verstappen despite having the faster car. It would be, without exaggeration, “one of the biggest mistakes in Formula 1 history.”

The second path is the risk of making a choice. This, too, is fraught with peril. If they back Piastri, they could “watch him continue to struggle while Norris gets even better.” If they back Norris, they risk Piastri finding his speed again and feeling “betrayed.” Either choice could “create serious problems within the team” and permanently damage their driver lineup.

Time is running out. With only five races left, any decision needs to be made now. The next race is “the last real chance to put a clear plan in place.” Yet, Andrea Stella’s comments show they “aren’t ready to make that call.” They are, it seems, hoping the situation will fix itself.

McLaren finds itself in a position that any team would envy: two world-championship-caliber drivers and a car fast enough to win. But they are paralyzed by their good fortune. By clinging to an idealistic notion of “fairness” over the cutthroat strategy required to win, they are not just risking a title. They are actively ignoring the most painful lesson from their own past. And in Formula 1, the one thing more relentless than Max Verstappen is history.