Norris/Piastri relationship “keeps improving” despite F1 title fight

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella believes the relationship between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris “keeps improving” despite the pair fiercely battling for the Formula 1 title.

The Woking squad’s two drivers have been the key championship protagonists in 2025, and this has cultivated comparisons to previous championship duopolies held by the team: the likes of Ayrton Senna vs Alain Prost, and Lewis Hamilton vs Fernando Alonso were considered more tempestuous line-ups.

Although McLaren has taken great pains to avoid a similar flare-up between team-mates, CEO Zak Brown stated earlier in the year that he expected its two drivers to clash on track – which came to pass when Norris went into the rear of Piastri’s car in Canada.

Norris immediately took the blame for this, and both drivers have maintained a cordial relationship in the face of the expected norms.

“Let me say that if anything, the relationship between Oscar and Lando keeps improving, and this is not the effect of a random evolution,” said Stella at this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

“This is because we invest in relationships. Relationships are one of the, when I refer to fundamentals of Formula 1, actually relationships are probably slightly less tangible, but I think it’s as fundamental as aerodynamics and this involves the relationship between drivers and the team and the drivers.

“If I take the race that we had last year in Hungary, we spent quite a lot of time in reviewing that individually with the drivers together, the two drivers, we tried to learn each other as much as possible.

“We tried to remind ourselves that F1 is difficult and we are always going to face some difficulties, and this is an awareness that we need to have.

“From there, [we consider] what can we do to improve and what can we do as a team to make sure that we have a framework that allows Lando and Oscar to pursue their aspirations, always protecting the interests of the team.

“I’m a lucky [team principal] because the two drivers are very reasonable, very fair, very correct, humble, and above all they understand that we are here not only to pursue our interests in the present, but we are also here to protect the future of their own careers and of McLaren.”

Asked if he expected the intensity between the drivers to rise, Stella explained that he felt the growing importance of each race through the year would have the byproduct of increasing pressure.

However, he felt that Norris and championship leader Piastri have maintained level heads across the season thus far, and he backed both the team and drivers to continue in that vein.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren, Lando Norris, McLaren

Photo by: Erik Junius

“I think there may be a natural increase of what could be a sense of pressure because the races reduce in number and every race will become, relatively, slightly more important,” he added.

“But I think what I can say from the point of view of the team principal and the team is that our two drivers and the team have sustained this quest to the championships in a very solid way. 

“I think over time, and reviewing this race by race, we have created a solid racing approach: an approach to which Lando and Oscar have definitely contributed.

“It’s not like the team have created this racing approach, and now [say to] Lando and Oscar, ‘this is it’.

“We have done it together. We have put it together as a team, including drivers. So I think this is a very robust framework and this will be more and more important in a way.

“Certainly the marginal value of every race will increase as we get closer to the end of the season.”