Oscar Piastri has downplayed the risk of an “unsportsmanlike” clash with teammate Lando Norris in their title fight despite the tightening three-point margin between them at the top of the standings.
Piastri came from 23 points behind Norris after the season opener in Australia to take a 16-point lead at the Miami Grand Prix, a 39-point turnaround in just five rounds that capitalised on his teammate’s qualifying struggles.
But Norris has fought back in the first two rounds of this triple-header, slicing his deficit down to just three points after winning from pole in Monaco.
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The Briton can take the title lead back this weekend if he wins the Spanish Grand Prix, the final leg of the three-race run.
That fightback included a fraught battle for second place in Imola, where McLaren allowed Piastri to try to defend his position despite being on much older tyres. The Australian forced Norris into an ambitious move around the outside of the first turn that put the two cars perilously close to contact to get the move done.
But Piastri says the closeness of their fight won’t negatively affect the way he and Norris race each other, with the team having laid the groundwork for a close championship battle during the off-season.
“Going into the year we knew that it’s impossible to have your own personal goal directly in parallel with the team’s,” he said, per Autosport.
“That’s something we’ve both been very frank about, something that the team have been very aware of, because at the end of last year we felt that if we went into this year with a car as strong as we finished with, we’d be in this situation.
“I think we’ve been very good at being open about it, just talking about it.
“But we’re never going to do anything that’s unsportsmanlike or puts the team in a bad light or puts ourselves in a bad light. I think that’s just not who Lando and I are.”
That’s partly because both drivers are committed to McLaren for the long term. Piastri signed a new deal at the beginning of the year that will keep him at Woking until at least the end of 2028, while Norris is tied to the team for another two years at minimum.
“We’re both at McLaren for a very long time after this year, and we want to fight for the championship every single year,” Piastri said.
“I think we both understand it’s pretty unwise to try and win one championship and bring the house down with it.
“Of course we want to go out and beat each other every weekend, but we’re never going to cross that line that’s going to cause damage that can’t be repaired, because — I’ve said it a few times now — we don’t want just one opportunity at this.”
PIT TALK PODCAST: Pole and victory for Lando Norris has cut his title deficit to Oscar Piastri to just three points, and his most comprehensive performance in months could be the turning point he needs in the championship fight.
While McLaren remains favourite to do the title double — it’s already amassed a 172-point lead atop the constructors table — Max Verstappen remains a threat for the drivers championship.
Verstappen trails Piastri by 25 points, but his victory in Imola two weeks ago in a McLaren-beating performance by his Red Bull Racing team has kept him in the mix as a live chance.
Having a third contender in the mix has put McLaren’s driver management in the spotlight, forcing the team to reckon with the prospect of needing to back one driver over the other to block Verstappen from a fifth consecutive title — though Piastri said that decision was a long way down the road.
“I think once it’s mathematically impossible, probably [there will be team orders],” Piastri said. “But no, I think we both want to win or try and fight for this championship and score our own points.
“Of course if it becomes a time later in the year where it is genuinely impossible or very close to it, then yes, maybe that will change, but I don’t see that happening for a very long time.”
Last week McLaren CEO Zak Brown denied his team would consider using team orders to guarantee the drivers championship, saying he’d prefer to see Verstappen win the title than interfere in the fight.
“I’m comfortable with that because the other scenario is: how do you take a driver out of the championship that’s competing for the championship? That’s not right at all,” he told PlanetF1.
“When you’ve got two drivers first and second in the championship and are separated by less than one second-place finish, how do you possibly even consider standing one down into a supporting role?
“There’s just no way we will.
“Hopefully we give them a car in an environment where you’re going into the last race and it’s the two of them competing and they didn’t take points off each other to the point where it lets Max or someone else get in there.
“But if so, then whoever wins the drivers championship has done a better job.”