‘Not who Lando and I are’: Oscar Piastri responds to ludicrous proposition by UK media regarding McLaren strategy

Britain’s cheerleading F1 media are getting behind their man, Lando Norris, and his McLaren teammate, Aussie Oscar Piastri has fired back at their suggestions, writes JULIAN LINDEN.

Oscar Piastri has fired back at suggestions this year’s Formula One championship could turn ugly if he doesn’t roll over and concede the drivers’ title to his English teammate Lando Norris.

Although Piastri is leading this season’s title standings on his own merit after winning four of the eight races so far, Britain’s cheerleading F1 media are once again putting pressure on the McLaren team to order the Australian star to slow down and give Norris an easier ride to the ultimate prize in motorsport.

Piastri celebrating his win in Miami. Picture: Hector Vivas / Getty Images via AFP

To their credit, McLaren and both their drivers are refusing to buckle, declaring once again that they will let both men compete as equals as long as they race cleanly and don’t crash into each other in the way Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost did when they were with McLaren in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

“We’re never going to do anything that’s unsportsmanlike or puts the team in a bad light or puts ourselves in a bad light,” Piastri told reporters in Barcelona ahead of this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix.

“I think that’s just not who Lando and I are. Of course, we want to go out and beat each other every weekend, but we’re never going to cross that line that’s going to cause damage that can’t be repaired.

“Because, I’ve said it a few times now, we don’t want just one opportunity at this.

“We’re both at McLaren for a very long time after this year, and we want to fight for the championship every single year. I think we both understand it’s pretty unwise to try and win one championship and bring the house down with it.”

Lando Norris (L) with third-placed Oscar Piastri (R) and McLaren CEO Zak Brown after the recent Monaco Grand Prix. Picture: Qian Jun/Xinhua via Getty Images

Piastri is spot on with his thinking and while that should be the end of the debate right there, it hasn’t stopped the British press pack from needling both drivers about whether team orders should be introduced after Norris took the checkered flag in Monaco last week to narrow the gap to just three points.

The narrative being driven by the UK press is that if McLaren don’t prioritise the older and more experienced Norris over Piastri in the drivers’ championship, the pair will continue to take points off each other and open the door for Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to win his fifth successive world title.

Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen are the only drivers to win races this season. Picture: Lars Baron/Getty Images

It’s a ludicrous proposition that flies in the face of sportsmanship and history because plenty of teams in the past have allowed their drivers to compete against each other all season and still come away with the individual and constructors title.

Verstappen, who has slipped 25 points in arrears of Piastri after a third of the season, has even conceded his chances of winning the title are slim at best, though neither of the McLaren drivers are counting the Dutchman out and allowing themselves to believe it’s already a two-horse race.

“Mathematically, there’s still probably the whole grid that can win the championship at the minute. So, if you think it’s just out of me and Oscar, then I think you’re a bit silly,” Norris told reporters.

“I think there’s plenty of opportunities. Max can still win. I think Ferrari, they’re Ferrari, I expect them to get better through the season.

“But yeah, come on. We’re racing Max every weekend. He’s been on the podium several times. He’s won races.

“He beat us in Imola fair and square because he was quicker. So I don’t know what possibly makes you think that it’s only between me and Oscar.”

Although his championship lead has shrunk from a high of 13 points to three after he won in Miami at the start of the month, Piastri remains upbeat about the way the season has unfolded.

After finishing ninth in the opening race in Australia when he skidded off the track in the rain, he’s made the podium seven times in succession, with four victories and three third places to keep his points tally ticking along.

“It’s been a great first third of the year, it’s pretty hard to complain with the start we’ve had,” he said.

“Obviously the results have been good, where I am in the championship is obviously great, but I think in general it’s been just a very satisfying start to the year.

“We’ve had a lot of very strong weekends – a couple of blips here and there of course – but it’s impossible to go eight weekends without a couple of things you can improve on. Very happy with how things have been going and hopefully we can keep it that way.”

Originally published as ‘Not who Lando and I are’: Oscar Piastri responds to ludicrous proposition by UK media regarding McLaren strategy