Piastri and Norris are no Alonso and Hamilton, but the shadow of 2007 looms over McLaren.

At the end of the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix (the sixth round of the championship), Lewis Hamilton led the standings with 48 points, 8 more than Fernando Alonso. Felipe Massa had 33, and Kimi Raikkonen , 27, both with Ferrari. (The scoring system was different from the current one.) After the recent Canadian round, Oscar Piastri has 198, Lando Norris 176, Max Verstappen 155, and George Russell 136.

Comparatively, the differences were very similar to those of today. McLaren and its drivers lost the Drivers' and Constructors' titles (this one, due to a penalty) at the end of that famous season. As in 2007, McLaren dominated the championship with its single-seater . Back then, rivalry and internal management ruined that season .

For the first time since then, the British team enjoys a privileged position, although there are still fourteen races remaining. The outcome of the Canadian Grand Prix has been a real shock for its team leaders. Should Andrea Stella have taken the reins of his drivers? Was he right to allow them to battle on a track that was extremely difficult for overtaking? The eternal racing dilemma arises again in a season where McLaren has everything to lose.

"The time will come"

Lando Norris felt equally overwhelmed and relieved . On the one hand, he was honored by his immediate reaction, apologizing to Piastri, Stella, and the entire team and immediately taking responsibility. However, he must also have felt a chill at the sight of the two Papaya cars crashed together on a straight. It would have been a disastrous image for the team and a serious blow to the credibility of its management.

"I know everyone's waiting for that moment, and I think it's going to come when they race really hard and someone makes a mistake, but I'm not worried about the outcome. As we've talked about it, we know it's more a question of when than if," Zak Brown admitted a couple of months ago. "Drivers can race really hard and fair, and every once in a while, someone makes a mistake. If you have two cars side by side 24 times a year, it's going to happen." It has happened, and very close, almost with both cars.

Brown may have been speaking from the comfort of the MCL39's on-track dominance. But the Gilles Villeneuve team confirmed that the British car has its days, circuits, and conditions. It won't always win. Norris, however, was unpredictable both Saturday and Sunday, and erratic again in the head-to-head battles. Would the McLaren boss have thought the same with his two cars wrecked on the Gilles Villeneuve straight?

The most feared scenarios

The eternal and fiendish debate: the struggle between maintaining the sporting spirit and freedom of action on the track... or defending the team's strong interests. "Being free to compete is a value we want to try to exercise and respect to the fullest, instead of having to control from the pit wall every time there's proximity between the two cars," Stella explained at the end of the race.

An honest, fair, and sporting discourse, not without risks, as experience has so often shown. "We want to give Lando and Oscar opportunities to compete and to be in the position they deserve at the end of the season , based on their merits and performance, rather than realizing that the points have been controlled more by the team than by the quality of its drivers." Like in 2007?

A team manager faces two complex scenarios : preventing his drivers from fighting each other on the track (like Ferrari in the closing stages of the last 24 Hours of Le Mans ), or deciding the position of one driver to the detriment of another. A sure source of internal conflict and unpopularity with the fans. "This isn't necessarily a simple and straightforward exercise, but we want to try to do it as best as possible, so I don't expect today's episode to change our approach. In fact, it will reinforce the idea that our principles demand greater caution from our drivers," Stella explained on Sunday.

An extraordinary leader, elegant and poised, Andrea Stella could face very different scenarios in the coming months. Chasing Verstappen in 2024 wasn't the same as having his own two drivers ahead of him, both with a chance at the title. As the season progresses, maneuvers like the one in Montreal between the McLaren drivers will become even more important and, therefore, risky.

The closest feud between teammates from the same dominant team occurred in 2016, between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. Back then, the Spanish Grand Prix didn't feature the same luck as in Montreal. Both drivers ended up off the track while battling for first place, to the furious outrage of Toto Wolff, who cut short the next day in a meeting at team headquarters, threatening his drivers with financial penalties and even having them removed from the car if a similar incident occurred again. This wasn't the case.

Hamilton and Alonso are not Norris or Piastri . Nor are Brown and Stella the Ron Dennis of today. So far, the British team has tried to avoid the perception of a rigid squad, unfair to its drivers , and unpopular with the fans. But if McLaren's dominance continues, the time will come for drastic decisions to be made in the on-track battle, or for one driver to be prioritized over another. Because Max Verstappen is threatening to give them a chance.

The Montreal experience awakens the team and drivers to the dangers of maintaining such a well-intentioned policy. Verstappen and Russell won't face any internal opposition if Horner and Wolff need to subordinate Tsunoda and Antonelli later on. As Brown pointed out, a duel between Norris and Piastri will be inevitable within McLaren. Perhaps, deep down, Brown and Stella secretly celebrate the Canadian incident to put the screws on their drivers. 2007 is too painful a lesson in McLaren's history.