Favouritism and Fans: Is There a Growing Bias of Favouritism in Motorsport?
The concept of favouritism within motorsport is growing exponentially, and if you have been following the 2025 Formula 1 season, this debate concerning the teams and the drivers is nothing new.
Everyone has their favourite team and their favourite driver, the same goes for all sports who have favourite players and athletes. Formula 1 is no different, and with the addition to new teams coming to the grid in 2026 with some previous drivers returning, there is no doubt going to be a tremendous shake up amongst fans, new, current and old alike. However, the issue of favouritism cannot be ignored, especially when fans have become divided amongst themselves about a team’s morals and internal bias in regards to which driver they should choose to favour over the other.
This speculation arises from the current news surrounding the McLaren Formula 1 Team, and their drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris. From the start of the 2025 season, Piastri held the lead for the driver’s championship after claiming seven wins from China, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Miami, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands. However as recently as Mexico, Lando has now taken the lead, which has left some McLaren fans, and the Formula 1 world divided as to whether a case for favouritism can be made. This stems from several concerning and bizarre strategic decisions made concerning both drivers across the season, from alternating leads and pit stops to ignoring team orders, to the classic phrase of ‘papaya rules’, fans have begun to take action against each other and the team, accusing McLaren of favouriting Oscar over Lando, or Lando over Oscar.
The debate seems neverending, which in turn has created an online platform for targeting one fan after another for defending their favourite driver from fans of the other. McLaren has recently commented on the issue regarding the speculated favouritism within the team, with CEO Zak Brown maintaining that there is no favouritism between either driver. However, that has done nothing to quell the speculation or heated debates across social media. Papaya Rules is now dividing fans, which now leaves a rather large gap between the fans and the competency of the team. McLaren has a lot of work to do to regain the trust and engagement of Piastri and Norris fans alike, however, with the end of the season looming, it seems like McLaren is running out of time.