How does Oscar Piastri feel about Lando Norris? ‘Admiration’ seems to be the hardest word
Piastri and Norris (and Max Verstappen) are gunning for the Formula 1 championship in Abu Dhabi. Norris has offered praise for his McLaren teammate. Piastri hasn’t quite returned the favour.
Three Formula 1 drivers walk into a bar … well, a packed press conference.
Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris and Max Verstappen shoot the breeze together because Formula 1 is masterful at making the most of hype and charged atmospheres. The three amigos all reckon they have nothing to lose at this weekend’s breathless Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Only Verstappen sounds convincing. Drivers’ championship trophies? He has four of those pots and tins at home.
Piastri appreciates he’s probably done his dash. You never know in F1, you just never know who will conk out, or crash into a wall, or have a brain explosion, or an oil leak, or an engine malfunction, or collide with one of those daft buggers driving for Alpine, or be shafted by ones own team, or a 10-second penalty, but Piastri is travelling the road least likely to finish in triumph.
He needs to both win the race and have the major improbability of Norris and Verstappen finishing down the pecking order. It’s such a long shot it goes from Melbourne to Perth.
What Piastri won’t be doing, dear reader, for all the tea in the People’s Republic of China, is helping Norris become world champion. The Englishman is keen on the idea of his agreeable McLaren stablemate helping his defence of a 12-point lead from Verstappen – Piastri is another four points in the rear-view mirror – but to paraphrase those magnificent bastards from The Castle … tell Norris he’s dreaming.
“It’s not something we’ve discussed,” Piastri says. “So, yeah. I don’t really have an answer until I know what’s expected of me.”
Piastri does have an answer. The answer is no. The answer is that you have got to be kidding. The answer is over his dead body. McLaren went through all this before the Qatar Grand Prix.
The answer was, is and always will be a thousand times no. Which Norris understands. At least he’s honest enough to admit he wishes it was a yes.
“Honestly, I mean, I would love it,” says Norris. “But I don’t think I would ask it because, I don’t know, it’s up to Oscar if he would allow it, you know.”
Verstappen is lording it up as the four-time defending world champion. Everything he says is a gentle reminder that he’s already done what the other two amigos are desperately attempting. Norris insists he doesn’t think too much about the world title. Impression? Pull the other one, old mate, it plays God Save the King. When you’re on the cusp of a world title, when your beautiful dream is at your fingertips, in any sport or area of life, you’re thinking about it morning, noon and night. Especially when you’re thinking about how much you don’t want to think about it.
Piastri offers Norris a not-so-subtle reminder that he’s in the hot seat. “I’m relaxed,” he says. “I’ve been on the opposite (leading) side of the championship battle in the junior categories. I know what that felt and it was pretty tough. So, coming into it from the least to lose out of us three is quite different for me. I think off the back of Qatar I’ve got a lot of confidence that I can perform well. Obviously I need a fair few things to happen this weekend to come out champion. I’ll just make sure I’m in the right place and the right time and see what happens.”
Norris has a soft spot for Piastri. Who doesn’t? I bet his girlfriend was thrilled to take him home to meet her mum. He has a face and demeanour every mother could love.
“What I like about him is just his general attitude of how he approaches everything,” Norris says. “Always pretty calm, pretty relaxed in every situation. Stays cool. That’s something that I admire and something that at times I wish I was a little bit more like. But everyone does their own thing. You always try and find what works best for you.
“I think also the most important thing is just how you get on personally. I’ve always got on well with my teammates. It’s easy not to. It takes one decision to make everything not be the way it is. I think that’s something we’ve done well.”
Norris adds: “I think how we’ve worked together, how we just treat each other, whether it’s on the track, off the track, whatever it may be, it’s just a good way of approaching everything. Not everyone would agree with it, which is completely acceptable and understandable. But I think we both have a similar approach in terms of just wanting to go on track, prove who’s better, try and drive the quickest, but also come off and enjoy our life when it’s just us as people, us as personalities. That’s something that I have a lot of respect for and I enjoy. I’ll look back on it in 10 years’ time and say the same thing.”
Naw, you big softies. Yet Piastri baulks at professing admiration. “I think it’s nice that we’re able to leave kind of what happens on track on the track and be friendly off the track. I think it’s, like Lando said, it’s very easy for it to not be that way. That definitely takes co-operation from both parties. So, yeah, I think for me that’s probably what I – I mean, admire sounds a bit strong in teammates – but I think that is a very good strength of Lando’s.”
Norris’s car-crash scenario is an actual car crash. For now, he’s trying to convince everyone, including himself, that he’s not a nervous wreck. “I’ve obviously not been in this situation before,” he says. “At the minute, I feel good. I really don’t think of it at all until you guys ask it all the time. It’s trying to avoid you guys (the media) as much as possible. I come into the weekend not thinking of it for the last three days. Just playing some golf and being with my mates and having a good time. I look forward to doing that on Monday, whether I’m hungover or not.”
Verstappen sticks his nose in the air and counts his driver’s championship trophies and playfully reminds his mates at McLaren who they’re dealing with. Verstappen is F1’s premier driver, we know that. He’s recovered from a seemingly insurmountable 104-point deficit and inferior Red Bull car to overtake Piastri and be right on Norris’s tail. He hates to toot his own horn but toot, toot.
“For me, everything here is a bonus, sitting here fighting for the title,” he says. “That’s also what makes it very straightforward. We’ll just try to have a good weekend but even then, it’s not really in my control. I’ll do my best and if it happens, great. If it doesn’t, I mean the trophy looks the same. I have four of those at home, so it’s nice to add a fifth. I know my signature, so it’s the same.”
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