The last Australian to be crowned F1 world champion has blasted the “bulls--t” suggestion that McLaren are giving Lando Norris preferential treatment over Oscar Piastri.

Having led the drivers’ championship for much of the season, Piastri has failed to make the podium since Monza at the start of September, and recently relinquished his spot at the top of the standings to teammate Lando Norris who is now favourite to win the world title.

Norris is top of the standings, 24 points clear of Piastri with Max Verstappen creeping up behind them both, 49 points adrift of the lead.

Piastri had led Norris by as many as 34 points given he won seven of the opening 15 rounds, but the 24-year-old has been on a downward spiral since crashing out in Baku while his British peer has surged.

Amid conspiracy theories of preferential treatment towards Norris or sabotage inside McLaren, Alan Jones said it’s the same old rubbish every year.

"It's the greatest load of nonsense of all time,” he told the ABC. “Every single season, we come across this bulls--t.

"It's either Mark Webber against Vettel, or it's somebody, it's always, 'Oh, he's got a better car than me' or 'He's getting preferential treatment'.

"It's absolute crap.

"If it were tennis, I swear to god, they'd be saying they're giving the bloke the wrong racket or something. It's just rubbish.

"Then you get all the rare experts coming out of the woodwork with their opinions on this, that and the other thing. Half of them wouldn't know one end of a car from another.

"But they're free to give their advice whether it's needed or not. It's just nonsense.

"It's not (happening) certainly within the team, I can assure you."

Echoing the sentiments of F1 legend Martin Brundle, Jones questioned why any team spending upwards of $400 million a year would sabotage their own hopes of a title win.

The fact of the matter is simply that recent races have been better conditions for Norris and Piastri has struggled with the grip.

"These teams don't spend absolute fortunes travelling halfway around the world to stymie one car or give preference to the other," Jones continued.

"I can assure you that both these cars are getting the same sort of treatment.

"I know Zak Brown very well. He's a good racer, and he'd be giving both these blokes equal chances.

"People get carried away, and half of those who get carried away have no idea about the sport whatsoever."

BRACE FOR A ROUGH VEGAS

McLaren fans have been warned to temper their expectations ahead of the Las Vegas Grand Prix this weekend with one driver declaring it was “the worst race” for the team in 2024 and they expect similar this year.

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri sit first and second in the driver’s title race respectively but creeping up behind them is Max Verstappen.

The USA race this weekend will be pivotal for McLaren with both drivers chasing their maiden world title having already secured the constructors championship.

While some believe Norris has one hand on the trophy, he offered very little in optimism when it comes to his and Piastri’s hopes this weekend.

McLaren have endured two very tough outings in Sin City since it made its debut in 2023 with Norris sixth and Piastri seventh last year.

Asked if Vegas being scheduled at the tail end of the season could help or hinder McLaren’s chances, Norris said: "Hinder, for sure. I think it was our worst race last year, So I'm not really looking forward to it.

"We've been trying to work quite hard on improving those things. We know Mercedes were incredibly strong there last year, as well as Red Bull and Ferraris. I think we were the bottom of those four.

"So yeah, we'll wait and see. Obviously, we've improved a lot of things this year, so I'm not going to be too negative about it.

"I think there's plenty to look forward to. We know Abu Dhabi and Qatar are ones we are looking forward to. Las Vegas just a little bit less, because they've been probably some of our weakest races over the last two years, So let's wait and see.

"I can say what I want. I can think what I want. I'd say what I always am is, I always try and be as honest as I can be. If I don't think we're going to be quick, I don't think we're going to be quick.

"And I'm not saying I'm going to be 10th. I'm just saying I think it's going to be difficult to win. We were a long way off - just go and look at the data from last year. Look at the race traces - we were miles off."

There are a maximum 83 points left to be awarded this season with the final sprint not scheduled until Qatar on December 1 (AEST).

McLaren will be making changes ahead of Las Vegas with temperatures expected to be significantly cooler than in recent weeks.

Team principal Andrea Stella had a more positive approach to Vegas saying the errors of previous season will stand them in good stead.

"Vegas last year was one of the most difficult races," the Italian said. "We had difficulties with the behaviour of the tyres, as you say, and the behaviour of the tyres in qualifying, because we were not fast, and behaviour of the tyres in the race because we had a lot of graining.

"We also had some aerodynamic issues when we tried to offload the rear wing, we saw that we were losing too much efficiency, and we had a bit of issues with the setup of the car, in a way, trying to compensate this graining and some of the understeer.

"The review from Vegas last year gave us a lot of information to try and find a way to improve.

"I would say that from a tyre point of view, from an aerodynamic efficiency point of view, and from a car set up point of view, we know in which direction we should change compared to last year.”

F1 returns this weekend with the Las Vegas race starting at 3pm AEDT on Sunday November 23.

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