Lando Norris said McLaren are in for a “nervous” title fight this season with Oscar Piastri also gunning for Formula 1 glory. But he is also adamant that his team has a “huge advantage” by having two strong drivers pushing each other hard.
McLaren’s car is clearly the class of the field in these early weeks of the new season after strolling to victories in Melbourne and Shanghai. Norris and Piastri won one each and are firing on all cylinders as they each chase their first drivers’ crown and, if both keep up their championship charge, then the Brit can see them giving their McLaren bosses a few headaches along the way.
He said: “We were free to race in Australia and here in China so I am sure we are going to have some closer racing at some point. “We’re both excited – probably nervous and excited at the same time – as I’m sure the team will be. But we’re ready.
“As much as we work together and we have a good time and enjoy ourselves, we also know we want to try and beat each other and show who’s best. And that’s inevitable. So there’s no point trying to hide away from that fact or make something of it. We’re two competitors who both want to win.”
But Norris, 25, also believes the competition from Piastri, 23, will push him on to greater heights. He added: “Apart from [Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc at] Ferrari, I don’t think there’s another team that has two drivers that push each other anywhere near as much. For us, that’s a huge advantage. It’s definitely something we’ll maximise because it’s helping us beat every other team at the minute.”
McLaren know first-hand what can happen when two team-mates give everything to win the title having watched Hamilton and Fernando Alonso’s relationship implode in 2007.
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Hamilton later saw his friendship with Nico Rosberg sour when they went for glory with Mercedes in the mid-2010s. For now, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella believes he can stop things getting out of hand.
He said: “When it comes to the internal competition within the team, we have tried to be ready for that for a long time now. But like all the things in Formula One, it would be very arrogant to say ‘Oh, now we are ready’. You learn because the scenarios are very complex and they never manifest themselves in the same way.
“So, just as we do for performance, reliability and operations, we also continue to learn in the way that the team is managed. For me, what is important is that fundamental values that everyone brings to support the interest of the team is healthy and according to our principles.
“We are very lucky with Oscar and Lando because that comes naturally. I am sure there will be situations but I am also sure that they will be reviewed and we will learn and grow even more in the way in which we protect the interests of our team.”
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