Yesterday at 06:30
Oscar Piastri has denied the idea that McLaren have reminded he and
F1 title rival, and team-mate, Lando Norris of the fate that befell
Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost. Piastri is enjoying F1's summer break
as the championship leader, but following a narrow defeat to Norris
in Hungary, has only a nine point lead with 274 left up for grabs
across the final 10 grands prix, which include three Sprints.
Whilst the pair have enjoyed a largely cordial title fight thus
far, there was one flashpoint in Canada when Norris collided with
Piastri and eliminated himself, losing at least 10 points for a
fifth place finish, which is where he was running at the time.
With those 10 points added back, Norris would actually be leading
the standings from his Australian team-mate in the first
intra-McLaren fight for the drivers' title since Senna and Prost in
1989. That year, F1's fiercest team-mate rivalry erupted after
disagreements and perceived favouritism, culminating in Prost
winning the title after the pair collided in the Japanese GP, at
the final chicane. But despite the history of McLaren team-mates
battling for the title, Piastri has explained that no such
'Senna-Prost' warning has been handed to himself or Norris. "Not
necessarily. Everybody knows the history of Senna and Prost and
that rivalry, and other rivalries outside of McLaren," Piastri told
media including RacingNews365 when asked if a 'Senna-Prost' warning
had been delivered to himself and Norris. "You don't really need an
example to set the culture that we have at the moment. We're both
very conscious that we want this opportunity of having the car and
the team in this position for many years to come. "The best way we
can help as drivers, apart from driving fast, is by giving the team
good morale and good confidence and making it a good team
environment. "That's very important for us this year and going
forward. We've all seen how it can go wrong, but we have a lot of
reasons to push for it not to go wrong. "We have been free to race
from race one."
