Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are right where they expected to be
McLaren teammates Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are right where they thought they would be
Oscar Piastri’s win in the Bahrain Grand Prix made him the first repeat winner of the 2025 Formula 1 season.
It also pulled him into second place in the F1 Drivers’ Championship standings, just three points off the leader.
His teammate, Lando Norris.
The McLaren duo have been impressive this season, with Norris taking the win at the Australian Grand Prix to open the season, and Piastri taking victories at both the Chinese Grand Prix and now the Bahrain Grand Prix. While Norris has a podium finish in every grand prix this season, bringing his total to 77 points on the young campaign, Piastri’s pair of wins have him on 74 points.
But to hear the two drivers tell it, this is exactly where they expected to be going into the season.
“I mean, I thought it started from Melbourne, to be honest,” said Piastri in the FIA Press Conference after the Bahrain Grand Prix, when asked if Sunday marked the “start of the real battle” between him and Norris. “But yeah, it’s still so early. I think at the moment we’ve got a great car underneath us. I feel like for the most part we’ve been able to do a good job with it. I mean, I think we’re in the positions we should be in.”
“Oscar’s put it very well, honestly. I think we knew coming into this season – us as a team knew it before the season – that we were going to have some close moments between us and some good fights,” added Norris.
Both drivers sounded excited for the battle to come, while also noting that there will be other challengers from across the grid.
“I think it’s going to be a tight battle. I think there are going to be other contenders. What we’ve seen at the moment is … We’ve not had a consistent challenger week in, week out. It’s kind of been somebody different, which from the championship point of view makes life difficult for others,” added Piastri. “But yeah, I think it’s going to be a tight year, definitely. And I think as long as we have the best car, it’s going to be tight between Lando and I.”
“And I’m sure we’re going to have more later this year, which I think we’re both excited for,” said Norris. “So we have to keep working hard as a team to keep ourselves ahead of the rest. Because I’m sure we both prefer if it’s just me and him – between us and no one else. As a team, we’d prefer that. It’d probably make our lives easier as a whole. So we’re not forgetting that the competition is close.
“Yes, we’ve got the best car on the grid and things like this, but one mistake – and I paid the price yesterday. One tenth and I would’ve been second on the grid today, so it’s frustrating,” continued Norris. “But it’s close and it’s competitive, and I think that’s a great thing for the sport. But we have to keep working hard as a team. I don’t think we’ve ever let that thought go – with how close some of the previous qualifying sessions have been. With Max [Verstappen] on pole, with George [Russell] only a tenth and a half off yesterday. It’s easy to not do a perfect lap and then not be on pole still. It’s not like we can just cruise around and everything’s groovy. So, we have to keep working hard, and I think we’re excited for the competition between us.”
The closest title fight between teammates in F1 history came back in 1984 when Niki Lauda held off teammate Alain Prost for his third and final Drivers’ Championship by just a half-point, 72 to 71.5 points. (The Monaco Grand Prix, run in wet conditions, only lasted for 31 laps, and half points were handed out as a result).
What team did those two drive for?
McLaren.
Could history repeat itself this year?
We do not know the answer to that question yet, but McLaren’s two drivers certainly believe it is possible.