- Oscar Piastri reveals toxic rivalry with Lando Norris would have cost McLaren seats.
- McLaren duo avoided Hamilton style fallout during intense 2025 world title battle.
- Australian star secures first podium in Japan following a difficult start to season
Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris managed to keep their rivalry away from getting toxic throughout last year as they raced against each other in the battle for the driver’s title.
Because if their relationship had grown toxic, as in the case of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, it could have ended with one of them losing the seat eventually, as revealed by Piastri.
In 2025, Piastri held his championship lead for 15 rounds before Norris snatched it after winning the Mexico City Grand Prix. While for most of the season the battle was between the two McLaren drivers, Max Verstappen emerged mid-season to give them a cutthroat competition.
As the season progressed toward the final races, Piastri’s chances of securing the WDC grew slimmer compared to Verstappen and Norris. In the end, Norris won the championship, with Verstappen finishing second and Piastri in third.
No “nasty” rivalry kept McLaren lineup intact, says Piastri
In a conversation on the High Performance Podcast, the Australian revealed that he and Norris were both trying to beat each other but were aware that only one of them could secure the win. Despite knowing it all, they didn’t let their rivalry get nasty, and he believes that was important to keep their seats intact.
Reflecting on what could have been amid the tense WDC situation, he added, “It would have been very easy for last year to have got nasty. If it really got bad, it would have been the question of whether one of us was sat here doing this interview wearing orange!”
He stressed the importance of team dynamics and how it helped in avoiding things from becoming toxic. While he knows this year didn’t start as expected, he believes that if things had turned bad last year, they would have only looked worse for a longtime.
Challenging season start for Piastri, but a podium secured
Piastri have been very unfortunate during the season start as he didn’t get to begin two back-to-back races. At his home race, he crashed at Turn 4 and hit the wall while marking the renaissance lap. The car was damaged immensely.
The bad luck followed in the China GP, as despite making it to the grid, his car was pulled back into the garage due to technical issues alongside Norris. Despite the very disappointing season start, Piastri managed to bring the first podium of the season for McLaren at the Japan GP. He is currently in 6th position in the current standings, below Norris, just 4 points away.
