Yesterday at 07:25
Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris are being forced to go to "extremes"
in their F1 title showdown as opposed to two of the greats in Max
Verstappen and Michael Schumacher. That is the verdict of Michael's
brother Ralf, who feels Piastri and Norris should be allowed their
freedom to race and make errors, given the intense pressure they
are both under in going head-to-head inside McLaren, rather than
against an outside rival. In Canada, Norris made a seismic error in
running into the back of Piastri as the duo were battling for
fourth. If the Briton and the Australian had held position in that
race, Norris would be leading Piastri by a single point in the
drivers' standings. As it is, he trails by nine going into F1's
summer shutdown. Most recently, in the grands prix in Austria and
Hungary, Piastri has twice come close to crashing into Norris,
locking up heavily and narrowly avoiding a major collision. "You
can call it mistakes, but you can also say that they are just
pushing and want to get that little bit more out," said Schumacher,
speaking on the Backstage Boxengasse podcast. " They want to put
themselves down as the fastest driver within the team." 'So easy'
for Max and Michael Schumacher feels that is in stark contrast to
four-time F1 champion Verstappen, and seven-time title-winner
Schumacher, neither of whom were challenged by their team-mate, as
Norris and Piastri are currently fighting with one another. Both
had compliant number two drivers - Sergio Perez alongside
Verstappen at Red Bull, and Rubens Barrichello with Schumacher at
Ferrari, where he won five of his championships. "Max hasn't really
had any real opposition within the team so far," assessed
Schumacher. "That is partly due to him and partly due to his
teammates. "As a result, things always look so easy with him, just
like they did with my brother at the time. "It's different with
Piastri and Norris. They have to go to extremes every time to beat
the other to secure their position within the team. And that
position is extremely important when it comes to the further
development of the car. "The more pressure there is, the greater
the chance, logically, is that you make a small mistake. "You also
saw that with [Charles] Leclerc at the beginning of the season. He
has now secured his place. "Then you don't have to go to the limit,
take that little extra risk where you might lock your wheel, exceed
a track limit or drive just too fast over a kerb."
