The intense competition of Formula One shows how competing for the title can turn the friendliest teammates into bitter rivals, but so far, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris are making it work at McLaren.
As Norris heads for his home race at Silverstone, the 25-year-old is expecting fans at the British Grand Prix to extend their support to his Australian teammate.
“The British fans are normally very accepting for all of us and especially for us as McLaren. So I think the first point should be for the fans to embrace everyone and support everyone,” said Norris.
A few years ago, one of F1`s famous teammate rivalries came into focus at the Austrian Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg collided on the last lap. It was one more incident in a relationship which had long been rocky.
There have been incidents during Norris and Piastri`s time together, which must have made it difficult for other drivers to accept.
Earlier in Canada, Norris clipped the back of Piastri`s car and hit the wall. After this incident, the 25-year-old apologised.
On Sunday in Austria, the 24-year-old attempted a lunge, but missed hitting Lando Norris` car; later, even Piastri apologised.
“We both want to race hard and race fair, and it goes both ways,” Norris said on Sunday.
“(The incident in Canada is) something I wish never happened but it was nice that we could go out and have a good battle (in Austria) and push things to the limits,” he said.
“There were still some close moments, but nothing that was hopefully something that would make Andrea (Stella, McLaren`s team principal) or the pit wall sweat too much,” said the United Kingdom-born racer.
Further, Piastri stated that he is expecting the majority of Lando`s fans at Silverstone. He recollected the time when the crowd at the British Grand Prix was chanting his name and how surprised he was by that support.
“A couple of years ago they were chanting my name in the crowd, so that was unexpected. I`m not sure I`ll quite get that again, which is fair enough. Obviously I`m expecting there to be a lot more Lando fans than me` fans, but that`s fair. It`s it`s his home race as well, so I think it`ll be fine,” said Oscar Piastri.
(With AP Inputs)
