Oscar Piastri doesn’t expect McLaren team-mate Lando Norris to “become Superman” after winning the Formula 1 world championship at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The McLaren duo fought for the 2025 title all year, only for Norris to clinch his maiden championship at the finale by finishing third behind the Australian and race winner Max Verstappen.
It means Norris beat runner-up Verstappen by two points, with Piastri 13 points behind, in what has been a very friendly championship fight and unlike the previous dominant McLaren era when it was Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost.
So when asked if he expects the dynamic between himself and Norris to change, Piastri replied: “No, I don’t think so, I don’t think that will change anything. For me he’s obviously had a great season this year and a deserving champion, but he’s still Lando Norris – it’s not like he’s become Superman.
“So, I don’t think things will change with that. I’m expecting, obviously, full fairness from the team and kind of equality going forward and I don’t have any concerns that that will change at all.
“But yeah, I think clearly Lando’s had a very strong season this year and ultimately did a better job.”
Lando Norris, McLaren, Oscar Piastri, McLaren
Photo by: James Sutton / Formula 1 / Formula Motorsport Ltd via Getty Images
What has dominated headlines is the way McLaren has attempted to keep everything fair between its pairing, going against the usual of appointing a number one and number two driver.
In Monza, for example, it asked Piastri to hand second back to Norris after a slow pitstop for the newly crowned world champion, while there was all the ‘repercussion’ drama following Singapore, when Norris barged by Piastri at the start.
Both drivers happily complied as well, meaning there were no major bust ups like previous intra-team championship battles such as that of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg at Mercedes from 2014 to 2016.
“It is a testament to the way we go racing,” added Piastri. “Obviously it’s not easy fighting for two, the constructors’ championship [McLaren defended its crown in Singapore] and the drivers’ championship, with two very evenly-matched drivers, but ultimately that’s a problem that we knew we were going to have.
“I think there’s a lot of good things that come from that. Yes, there’s difficult moments and tension at times, but I think both Lando and I have become better drivers from pushing each other to the limit and sometimes that’s been uncomfortable for everyone but I think ultimately it’s been a good thing.
“We’ve obviously had a lot of discussions through the year and I’m sure we’ll have discussions in the off-season about anything we want to do slightly differently for next year, but I think at the end of the day they gave us both as good of a chance as the team could have to fairly fight for a world championship, and that’s all you can ask for.”
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– The Autosport.com Team
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