Oscar Piastri has confirmed that he and McLaren teammate Lando Norris are still “free to race” heading into the F1 Austrian GP despite their recent clash in Canada.
Norris was chasing Piastri for fourth in the closing stages of the race, when he made an ill-advised move, clipping his teammate and squeezing himself against the pit wall. Piastri was able to continue and ultimately finished P4 while Norris was forced to retire from the race due to damage.
Norris took responsibility for the collision and publicly apologised to Piastri in the TV pen after the race.
Business as usual post-Canada
The incident remains a major talking point heading into the Austrian GP. Speaking in Thursday’s press conference, Piastri divulged that the post-race debrief in Montreal went “fine”.
“Half of it was on the way to the Stewards’ room, so that was fun. But, no, all good. We spoke about it honestly before we even got back to the team. Lando put his hands up and apologised. So, all good and looking forward to going racing again.”
Asked whether McLaren had introduced any new restrictions or internal rules following the contact, Piastri stated, “Nope. Same as always. What happened in Canada wasn’t ideal, but we’re still free to race, still fighting for a championship each. So, no, keep going racing and make sure that we don’t come into contact again.”
On McLaren’s challenge in managing an even playing field between himself and Norris, Piastri noted: “I mean, we’ve been doing things in terms of strategy to just try and get the best result for each car.
“[In Canada] I was trying to beat the cars ahead of me and we wanted to give me enough laps to try and pass them. It is a difficult position. I think the fact that we’ve got a healthy lead in the Constructors’ Championship makes that a little bit easier to manage, but it’s obviously a tough situation. I think we’ve done a very good job of managing things, of pre-empting things, and not being naive that, whilst it’s a good position to be in with two strong drivers and a good lead in the Constructors’ Championship, it obviously does have certain aspects of that job.”
On keeping things “fair” in the intra-team championship fight
On the subject, Piastri added: “I think the biggest and most important thing was just that things remained fair from as many aspects as you can. Obviously, there are certain situations that are not always going to be completely fair—whether it’s strategy, because there’s only one pit box, or some other things. But I think that’s the biggest thing for both of us.
“Obviously, the first rule, regardless of whether it’s written down or not, is that the two cars from the same team don’t crash. I think that’s the big thing. In Canada, what we’ve done well this year is acknowledging that it’s a possibility. I think we dealt with it very well in Canada and since Canada, I don’t have anything else. I think what we’re doing and the way we’re going about things is the correct approach.
“It’s obviously a difficult one to navigate, but that’s a good problem to have in some ways. What we’ve been doing is good, and just a fair opportunity is what we both ask for.”
Piastri downplays Vettel-Webber comparison
Many have drawn comparisons between Piastri and Norris’ intra-team championship battle and the intense rivalry between then-Red Bull teammates, Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, particularly as the latter is Piastri’s manager. That partnership was marked by several high-profile clashes, including a dramatic collision at the 2010 Turkish Grand Prix.
However, Piastri was quick to distance himself and Norris from that dynamic.
“I think just the situation is very different. I think Lando and I are very different people to Mark and Seb,” he explained.
“The situation within the team, in their careers, is also different. I think also the incident in Canada didn’t warrant any big discussions or big decisions; I think it was a misjudgement from Lando that he admitted to and apologised for immediately.
“I don’t think it needed anything else. We knew going into this year it was probably going to be a close fight between Lando and I with a championship at stake. It’s no surprise to anyone we’re in this scenario now. I think ultimately trying to make ourselves as fast as possible, doing the right things, that’s all you can do.
Piastri continued: “I’ve said it multiple times before but Lando and I don’t just want one opportunity to win a championship. We want this to go on for as long as we’re in Formula 1. I think the headline a few weeks ago was that it’s not wise to fight for a championship or win a championship and bring the house down with it.
“I think that’s still at the forefront of our minds, and we want this success for years to come. Having the team united is a very simple way of doing that.”
Understanding what made McLaren vulnerable in Montreal
McLaren’s performance was uncharacteristically muted in Montreal, where Mercedes had the measure of their rivals—George Russell won the race while Kimi Antonelli secured his first F1 podium by finishing third, with Piastri’s efforts to chase down the Italian ultimately proving futile.
“I hope not,” Piastri said when asked if McLaren’s Montreal malaise might carry over to the Austrian GP.
“We got taken by surprise a little bit that we weren’t as strong as we hoped in Canada, but hopefully it’s a one-off.
“By the time we got to qualifying, I think we were in a better place and in the race, our pace was actually not bad, just we qualified a bit further back. I think we kind of understand what went wrong in Canada. So, we’ll try and have a better weekend here, but I’m confident we’ll be back on top form.”
