Lando Norris has no intention of winning the title fight against his teammate Oscar Piastri at all costs. The Briton is not interested in playing psychological games with the Australian, preferring to defeat his current biggest rival on the track. For Norris, it’s important to also enjoy potentially winning a world title, as he believes in the long run it doesn’t matter which of the two McLaren teammates triumphs.
Lando Norris has closed the gap on championship leader and teammate Oscar Piastri with his victory at the Hungaroring. The difference between the two McLaren drivers is nine World Championship points at the start of the summer break, and it is expected that the battle between the two will intensify in the second half of the season. However, team boss Andrea Stella is confident that the relationship between Norris and Piastri will remain good, and the Briton himself does not want to win against the Australian at all costs.
Norris is unlikely to try to play psychological games with Piastri. “I don’t enjoy that,” he tells PA. “In two hundred years, no one will care who wins now, because we’ll all be gone. So I try to have fun as well. Of course, I still care, that’s why I’m sometimes so disappointed in myself, but that doesn’t mean I can just take it out on Oscar.”
‘Of course, I want to beat Oscar’
Piastri previously identified his teammate as his ‘biggest rival’ at this stage of the season. Norris agrees with his McLaren teammate. “Of course, he’s the driver I most want to beat. But if I don’t, it means he’s done a better job. I do it my own way, and just because someone else has managed to win the title in a different way, doesn’t mean I have to do it that way. I don’t care too much about that,” Norris concludes.
