Oscar Piastri: “It’s unwise to win the title and bring the house down with it” 

It’s noteworthy that, amidst great intrigue over the tightening up of rules on so-called ‘flexi-wings’, and the likelihood of the Barcelona circuit layout favouring Red Bull this weekend, the main questions directed at Oscar Piastri ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix concerned his team-mate, Lando Norris.

Four wins this season – including three consecutive victories between Max Verstappen’s wins at Suzuka and Imola – enabled Piastri to catch and pass Norris in the drivers’ championship after a costly spin en route to ninth place in the season opener. 

But Norris’ win in Monaco shifted the momentum and Piastri now leads by just three points, 161 to 158, with Verstappen their closest rival on 136. 

Last season, McLaren was arguably rather slow in putting its weight behind the Briton’s title bid as he emerged as Verstappen’s main challenger. This led to awkward moments at the Hungaroring and Monza – in particular the latter, when Piastri jumped Norris on the opening lap and finished ahead, costing him points. 

The championship circumstances are slightly different now, but Piastri was clear that the situation has been anticipated and prepared for – and that neither driver wants to squander McLaren’s advantage and goodwill. 

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38, go three wide into the first corner

Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images

“I think going into the year, we knew that it’s impossible to have your own personal goal directly in parallel with the team’s,” said Piastri. 

“And 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. 

“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. 

“We’re both at McLaren for a very long time after this year, and we want to fight for the championship every single year. I think we both understand it’s pretty unwise to try and win one championship and bring the house down with it.” 

Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo by: Peter Fox / Getty Images

There is a clear analogy here to a previous McLaren era, when a pairing of two of the greatest drivers of the time led to self-destructive rancour. Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost each won a drivers’ title with the Woking team, in 1988 and ’89. But by the end of the latter season, the relationship had soured to a point where they would only speak to one another via an intermediary. 

While Senna came to McLaren to test himself against the driver he saw as the best of the rest – as well as getting into a better car than the one he’d previously had at Lotus – it’s commonly believed that the schism began with a dispute over a pre-race agreement for the McLaren driver running behind after the start not to challenge the other’s position at the first corner. 

At Imola in 1988, Prost felt Senna had reneged on this, though the race had been restarted so, in Senna’s mind, the agreement no longer applied. 

Arguments over professional etiquette then devolved into pettiness both on- and off-track, including complaints that the team was favouring one driver over the other with better equipment. 

Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images

This was neither the first nor the last time team-mates in a frontrunning squad have not got along, or even collided on track (though the sight of the two McLarens locked together at Suzuka’s chicane in 1989 was rather less messy than the collision between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg here in Barcelona in 2016). 

But in some circumstances, it proved costly to the ambitions of team and driver, such as when Prost won the 1986 and ’87 world titles as the Williams pairing of Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell took points off one another. 

McLaren won the constructors’ championship last year for the first time since 1998 and wants to add the drivers’ title this year – a trophy unseen in Woking since Lewis Hamilton won in 2008. 

It will not want to jeopardise this outcome, or end up in a scenario with warring teammates locked together contractually for the following season. 

Norris’ deal runs to at least the end of 2026, with options to continue, while Piastri’s last renewal took him to an unspecified point beyond the close of 2026. To that end, McLaren is unlikely to impose team orders to favour one, unless they establishes a clear points lead over the other, while still under threat from a rival from another team. 

“I think once it’s mathematically impossible, probably [there will be team orders],” said Piastri. “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.”