While not everyone might like sports, I’d argue everyone loves a good rivalry: the Jets versus the Sharks, Biggie versus Tupac, and even Regina George versus Cady Heron. But what happens when your rivalry occurs with someone you’re supposed to work with? This is an unfortunate reality that happens quite often in the world of Formula One (F1). For some, the rivalry doesn’t get too out of hand, as a little bit of healthy competition is good for the sport and for the team. For others, well… let’s just say it doesn’t end with a happily ever after. There have been many examples of rivalries in F1 that have made the history books, but there’s one that happened a little over a decade ago that constantly consumes my thoughts: Brocedes.
What exactly is Brocedes?
Brocedes is the name used when referring to former Mercedes teammates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. From 2013 to 2016, Hamilton and Rosberg were teammates for Mercedes, but their history started long before 2013. Hamilton and Rosberg grew up as childhood friends, with Rosberg being the son of 1982 F1 World Champion Keke Rosberg, and Hamilton growing up working-class. Hamilton’s interest in racing started when he was five, when his father bought him a radio-controlled car, and he soon came in second in the national British Radio Car Association championship the year after, in the adult category. Hamilton then went on to start go-karting in 1993, and Rosberg in 1991. The two were first paired as teammates in 2000 for the European Karting Championship, with Hamilton winning and Rosberg coming in second. This is where their competitive yet friendly dynamic starts.
Fast forward to 2013: Lewis Hamilton is leaving McLaren and is heading to Mercedes. Hamilton, having won his first World Championship (while only in his second season of F1) at McLaren in 2008, is being told this is a terrible idea, considering Mercedes hasn’t had any luck recently. Meanwhile, Rosberg has been with Mercedes since 2010, and his placement in the Driver’s Championship in the past seasons proves that the Silver Arrows aren’t doing too well. Regardless of the warnings, Hamilton commits and is reunited with his childhood friend, and they are teammates once again. Even in their first professional season together as teammates, Hamilton beat Rosberg and came fourth overall in the Championship, with Nico coming in sixth. 2014 and 2015 aren’t any better for Rosberg, with Hamilton winning both seasons and Rosberg coming in second both times as well. It’s clear that Hamilton’s dominance isn’t going to end any time soon. That is, until 2016.
2016 was quite the season for Brocedes. For one, the 2016 season consisted of 21 races, which made it the longest season in the sport’s history up to that point, meaning more opportunities to win races and appear on the podium, and ultimately score more points. Hamilton won ten of the 21 races, and Rosberg won nine, but it was Rosberg who secured the coveted Driver’s Championship. Rosberg won with 385 total points, and Hamilton came in second with 380. It was quite the close season, and without going into excruciating detail, just know that it got pretty hairy at times. It was apparent that Hamilton and Rosberg’s relationship was deteriorating, and it wasn’t entirely their fault, as team orders definitely played a part in the duo’s downfall, but there really wasn’t much that could’ve been done. Your teammate is your biggest rival as much as they’re your ally, and it was clear that both of these men wanted to win and would do whatever it took to achieve such. Only five days after winning the Driver’s Championship, Nico Rosberg announced his retirement from the sport, shocking everyone with this decision. Hamilton said he wasn’t necessarily that surprised that Rosberg was retiring, commenting that “the sport will miss him,” and even wished his teammate the best. At this point, though, it was clear there was little chance the two would try to mend their friendship.
Okay, so Who are Lando Norris & Oscar Piastri?
I’m glad you asked: Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are the current drivers for the McLaren Formula One team. They also happen to be two of my favorite drivers currently on the grid, so you can probably understand where I’m coming from. Lando Norris is a British driver entering his seventh season of Formula One, having been with McLaren since his rookie season in 2019, and Oscar Piastri is an Australian driver entering his third season, also having been with McLaren since his rookie season in 2023 (although, I would be remiss if I didn’t briefly mention the whole contract dispute between him and Alpine, and his infamous tweet on the situation). 2024 was a monumental year for the Brit and the Aussie, with both taking their maiden wins 78 days apart from each other. Previous to his win, Norris had been on the podium many times and even held a record of being a driver with the most amount of podiums before a win (110 races and 15 podiums if you were curious). Piastri, on the other hand, had won the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix Sprint, so he was somewhat accustomed to winning in an F1 capacity. Norris’ maiden win in Miami went pretty smoothly for McLaren, but Piastri’s first win in Hungary was not the same story.
It’s important that I mention the 2024 season of Formula One was crazy. Nothing about it was normal, and frankly, I was quite stressed and confused during the entire season. Red Bull’s dominance was coming to an end, drivers were getting dropped left and right, and because of this, McLaren and Ferrari were contenders for the Constructors’ Championship. This also allowed for Lando Norris to be a Driver’s Championship contender, which seemed damn-near impossible back in 2023. During the Hungarian Grand Prix Qualifying session, Norris qualified in pole (first) position, with Piastri in second, and reigning Drivers’ champion Max Verstappen in third. Now, please bear with me, because it’s going to get dense, but I promise, this will be the only time! When the actual Grand Prix started, Norris lost pole to Piastri, which isn’t uncommon, but this was the catalyst for how Hungary was going to go. More driving happens, and it’s time to pit for new tires. Norris pits first in order to fend off Lewis Hamilton, and Piastri, who is still leading the race, pits after his teammate. Because Lando pitted first and had new tires, he was able to go faster, which allowed him to gain the lead. McLaren, via their team orders of “papaya rules,” wanted Lando to give Oscar his position of first place back, even though Norris was faster and had a six-second lead over his teammate. After a lot of back-and-forth between Lando and his race engineer, Will Joseph (and a lot of guilt as well), Norris gave Piastri the position back on lap 68 of 70.
As a Lando fan, I was hurt, but more than anything, as a McLaren fan, I was fuming. It was a poor strategic call on McLaren’s part, and it overshadowed Oscar’s first win. McLaren pitted the two against each other, and the whole situation could’ve been handled better. Things felt a little strange at McLaren after Hungary 2024, but team principal Andrea Stella and CEO Zak Brown assured everyone that everything was OK between Lando and Oscar.
Why does this matter?
ABBA said it best when they said, “The history book on the shelf is always repeating itself.” Both Norris and Piastri show great potential with this year’s McLaren, the MCL39, and even though the season just started, I can already tell it’s going to be a very close competition between the two. As I mentioned earlier, 2024 was crazy, and I think 2025 is shaping up to be another interesting season as well. Out of the three races that have happened so far this season, we’ve had three different winners, with Lando and Oscar winning the first and second race, respectively. Both are showing so much promise and are clearly more than capable of holding and maintaining a lead, which is great! What’s not so great is that they’re also both quite obviously itching to win a World Championship of their own. I want both of them to win. I would love for both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to become World Champions, but I hate that it’s at the expense of one another. In this case, I would equate Lando Norris to Nico Rosberg in the sense that they started their Formula 1 career before their respective teammate, but their teammate was having more immediate success.
Do I think that Lando and Oscar’s relationship will ever reach the level of Lewis and Nico’s? No, not necessarily, considering they don’t have a history like the former Mercedes drivers do, but there’s a possibility their working relationship could get ruined if McLaren keeps doing what they’re doing. Part of my mental health revolves around if Lando and Oscar do well during a race weekend, and when they don’t, it’s not pretty on my end. I’ve cried and screamed over races, so how do you think I’ll fare if my two favorites suddenly start to slowly hate each other? Bad! It’ll be bad! I understand it’s the nature of the sport and that it’s so cutthroat and competitive, but Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri do not deserve this type of fate. It’s not fair for the two of them to carry so much weight and be constantly put in these situations when McLaren claims they “don’t have a number one and number two driver.” I genuinely cannot articulate just how much I worry these two men will slowly grow to resent one another just because they both want to succeed. I’m not usually the “everyone’s a winner” type of person, but in this case, I need both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to be winners for the sake of my sanity.