Yesterday at 06:30
Oscar Piastri has claimed that fighting a team-mate for an F1
drivers' title is a "conflicted position", and unlike anything else
in sport. The Australian is up against Lando Norris for the
championship this season, unless Max Verstappen delivers a
sensational second half of the campaign. Piastri holds a marginal
eight-point advantage over Norris, whilst Verstappen in third is a
distant 69 points adrift. It is set to be an all-McLaren duel for
what would be a maiden title in F1 for either Piastri or Norris,
which brings with it an unusual experience. McLaren require its
drivers to support one another to ensure it defends the
constructors' title, something it looks set to do. However, as
proven in Canada, where Norris crashed into Piastri, team-mates
fighting each other for a title can cost the outfit itself
significant points. Asked by Martin Brundle at McLaren Racing Live
ahead of the British GP what it is like fighting a team-mate for a
world title, Piastri declared it to be "a unique position,
definitely'. He added: "I don't think there's any other place in
sport where you're in an almost conflicted position. We clearly get
on well, we work together very well. "And I like to think that a
very small part of the team's success is us working together and
trying to help the team, but at the same time, we also want to beat
each other every single week. "So it's a difficult position to be
in, but I think we manage it very well. The team does a very good
job of managing it, because we've seen it go wrong plenty of times
in the past. "I think we're doing a good job so far. So it's a
tricky position, but we're cool."
