Formula 1: Championship leader Oscar Piastri opens up on relationship with teammate Lando Norris amid escalating title battle
Locked in the tightest intra-team race for an F1 crown in years, Australia’s Oscar Piastri explains the ‘interesting dynamic’ unfolding between himself and stablemate Lando Norris.
Australia’s championship leader Oscar Piastri has opened up on his off-track relationship with McLaren teammate and title rival Lando Norris, revealing they share an “interesting dynamic” as the papaya pair prepares to resume their fight for the Formula 1 crown.
Ahead of Formula 1’s return from the summer break at the Dutch Grand Prix this week, Piastri has detailed how the duo’s tight battle for the sport’s ultimate prize has translated away from the track.
Both fighting for their first Formula 1 world drivers’ championship, just nine points separates the McLaren duo, setting the scene for a thrilling second half of the 2025 campaign.
Piastri, with six wins for the year, has maintained a narrow lead over his British teammate, who has won three out of the past four grand prix to eat into the Australian’s advantage, which had been 23 points at one stage.
While former McLaren star David Coulthard has predicted the intra-team battle could “boil over” as the title race heats up, Piastri said any on-track tension in wanting to beat each other had not yet spilled over off the track.
“It’s an interesting dynamic, I think,” Piastri told formula.1.com.
“I think we both feel there’s not really any tension. Well, there’s not any tension at all, really. I think we get on very well.
“We’re building waffle towers and doing silly stuff on Thursdays (at the track) but obviously once we get on track, then the business starts and we’re both very determined to try and win and try and get as many points as we can.
“There’s definitely kind of two sides to it but if there’s tension in wanting to beat each other, it never spills out off the track, which I think is a nice thing.
“It is an interesting dynamic in how it kind of changes and flows. We’ve always gotten on well, so I don’t think that’ll change.”
Piastri has previously acknowledged the battle for the Formula 1 crown is now a “two-horse race” between Norris and himself, with four-time world champion Max Verstappen sitting a further 88 points behind the Brit.
The Australian said he was “not concerned at all” with the gap closing to below 10 points and predicted the “tightly fought” tussles with Norris to continue after four consecutive one-two finishes for the team.
“The pace for the first half of the year has been very, very strong and I think the last few races as well have been very good,” Piastri said.
“I feel like I’ve driven a lot of strong races, and it’s been very tightly fought.
“So, I expect more of the same after the break.”
After finishing fourth in the drivers’ championship standings last year, Piastri said he had relished his rise to championship contender this year.
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“Especially the last six months or so, it’s been incredible – there’s no other way of putting it,” Piastri said.
“At the back end of last year, we obviously had some more success, had the championship for the constructors’, but this year has been completely different.
“We are going into some weekends knowing that you’re most likely only going to be fighting a teammate (for the win), it’s a unique position to be in and a pretty cool one when you can pull that off. So yeah, it’s been a lot of fun.”
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