The Australian was surprised to learn on Saturday morning that a graphic quoting Bernie Ecclestone — in which the former F1 boss claimed “McLaren prefers the English driver Norris” because of his “star quality” and “camera presence” — had been shared to his Instagram story in the early hours before being quickly deleted.

The post spread rapidly among fans and reignited online debate about perceived favouritism inside the team.

Piastri said he had no explanation for how the repost occurred.

“I don’t know,” he told RacingNews365 when asked about the incident.

“I woke up this morning and saw it, so I don’t know, maybe I accidentally did it.

“Obviously, it was not intentional. But yeah, I didn’t know what had happened. So I don’t know.”

The original quote from Ecclestone had been circulating since early November, but Piastri’s unexpected reshare — intentional or not — arrived at a tense point in the season as the pair fight for the 2025 championship.

His recent form has drawn scrutiny as well, with the 24-year-old being outscored by Norris over the past several rounds.

The sudden flashpoint comes despite McLaren strongly dismissing suggestions of internal bias and despite Piastri and Norris repeatedly insisting their working relationship has remained stable throughout their title battle.

Speaking ahead of the Las Vegas weekend, Norris said the lack of recent light-hearted social-media clips had nothing to do with tensions between them.

“I think the reason you see less videos is because we ask to do less,” he said.

“We’re racing drivers, we want to come and drive, not make videos for social media.”

Norris stressed that the pair remain close within the team environment.

“We both have a lot of respect for each other and we understand the position that we’re in,” he said, adding that outside the car “we can still have a joke, have laughs in our debriefs and we still enjoy everything away from the track.”

He rejected any suggestion their title fight had strained the dynamic.

“In terms of relationship, we get along well, work together well and I think it’s still better than it’s ever been.”

McLaren begin Saturday’s race in Las Vegas with Norris starting from pole and Piastri lining up fifth, with both drivers insisting the focus remains firmly on delivering the strongest possible result for the team.