Lando Norris believes a future clash with Piastri is inevitable as McLaren F1 teammates push limits in intense Formula 1 battles.
McLaren F1 dominated two of the three races in the triple-header, with a win in Monaco for Lando Norris. The latter hopes to keep making progress and believes the team still has room for improvement, starting this weekend in Canada.
“Things are heading in the right direction, consistency was good, but there are always things to work on. It was three solid weeks, it’s never perfect, but there are always things we can improve,” said Norris.
As his team principal Andrea Stella has already pointed out, the Briton is convinced that an incident with Oscar Piastri will happen eventually, despite their mutual goodwill: “We never said we would avoid things, something is bound to happen at some point, Oscar and I know it, we’re competitive and we want to beat each other.”
“The main thing is to remain strong as a team, but everything is clear between us, we want to race, and there can only be one winner. As Andrea said, it’s not a question of ‘if’ but ‘when’, and that is inevitable in motorsport.”
Norris on Verstappen: No reason for Max to change
Asked about Max Verstappen’s driving, who nearly faced a race suspension in Spain, Norris downplays his rival’s blame but criticizes the deliberate contact in Barcelona: “Max is one of the best in the world because of how he drives. I don’t think anyone can argue with that.”
“Of course, he said he shouldn’t have done what he did. You can talk to him, you don’t need to talk to me about it, but I’m sure he regrets what he did. What he did last weekend was clearly a bit different from what he usually does.”
“It wasn’t just aggressive driving, strong defensive moves, on the edge. It was something slightly different. No, I think Max is who he is, and he has achieved what he has thanks to the way he drives. There’s no reason for him to change.”
Norris does not expect Verstappen to change his racing style and says he won’t assume anything on track: “I don’t think anything really changes. You don’t know what he’s going to do. So at this point, I’m trying to think about what to do differently. It’s the same as usual.”
“I think he will keep fighting. He’s even further ahead in the points. So no, there’s no point in trying to assume things or guess, because when you’re in a position to battle on track, you can’t try to think ‘he’ll give me more space’ and then he doesn’t and something happens.”
“There’s no point in assuming things or trying to guess what others will do. He’s still fighting for the championship. He still wants to try to win every race he can.”
