Oscar Piastri rejects pragmatic approach against Lando Norris in F1 title battle

Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris go into the F1 summer break with just 9 points between them in the Championship Standings. With the midway points passed, and just 10 races remaining in the season, many would assume that both McLaren drivers would now be looking at the bigger picture. However, Oscar Piastri rejects the practical approach and is keen on taking races as they come.

McLaren won the 2024 Constructors' championship while Max Verstappen took the Drivers' title. However, coming into the 2025 season, the Papaya team was leaps and bounds ahead in terms of car performance compared to its rivals, making it a two-way fight between its drivers for the championship.

While Max Verstappen did seem likely to challenge the duo at the beginning of the season, the performance of the RB21 has fallen away after the first quarter of the season. With fourteen races completed, Oscar Piastri leads the championship by just 9 points with Lando Norris right behind him.

F1 Grand Prix Of Hungary - Source: Getty

The two McLaren drivers have shared wins between them and have also battled on track, including moments where the two came close to a collision (Austrian GP) and collided (2025 Canadian GP). With 10 races left in the season, and McLaren allowing both its drivers to fight for the title under Papaya Rules (no collision), Oscar Piastri was questioned about his approach.

“I think there's definitely been some changes. Even still, now it's too early to kind of just bank points and finish races for the sake of finishing races. You still need to try and put your best foot forward and score points,” said the Australian (via Autosport)

“You could say I need 18 points every weekend for the rest of the year, which is finishing second, but if you've got a clear opportunity to win the race and you don't take it, that's not a great way of going racing in my opinion. So that's how I always try and look at it. And that's what I based my whole career off basically, leaving each weekend knowing that I've done the absolute maximum I can,” added Oscar Piastri

Lando Norris won the 2025 Hungarian GP and reduced the gap to his teammate to single digits going into the summer break. Oscar Piastri has 6 wins and 12 podiums to his name, whereas Norris has 5 wins and 12 podiums.

---

Zak Brown on keeping “transparency” with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri amid the championship battle

With the two McLaren drivers battling for the championship, Zak Brown came out and detailed the importance of being transparent with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris about performance upgrades to ensure harmony within the team. Explaining how having an upgrade for just one of the cars is dealt with, Brown said,

“It's all about transparency, being fair, being equitable. When we have upgrades on the car and we can only give it to one driver for a race because two aren't ready, we tell them why. We don't let them find out by reading, 'Oh, he's got a new front wing, I don't.’” (via How Leaders Lead with David Novak)

“So we give them the rationale. We keep scores. 'Hey, next time we get a new development.' Or we are in a position where one driver gets the benefit, the other can't, we keep score,” he added

With the Constructors' championship almost sealed, McLaren will likely shift full focus to the 2026 car while having Piastri and Norris battle it out for the title. In the past, when McLaren teammates have fought for a title, it hasn't necessarily gone well (Fernando Alonso vs Lewis Hamilton, Alain Prost vs Ayrton Senna).