Oscar Piastri explains why he hasn’t spoken to Lando Norris over potential 2025 F1 title battle

McLaren goes into the 2025 Formula 1 season as the favourite for the title, having ended last season as the Constructors’ Champions.

Lando Norris will be hopeful that he can improve on his results last year and get a few wins early in the season, having shown he can put in dominant performances at the Dutch and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix.

Martin Brundle has tipped Norris as the title favourite this year, although there are some questions over whether he will face competition from his teammate Oscar Piastri.

Although Piastri is not as experienced as Norris, the Australian has two race wins under his belt and proved that can withstand the pressure from some of F1’s toughest drivers.

Zak Brown has confirmed that Norris and Piastri will be free to race in the event there is a title battle, while team principal Andrea Stella has not ruled out employing team orders at McLaren.

When asked whether he sat down with Norris to discuss a 2025 title battle, Piastri told the Fast and Curious podcast that he has yet to mention it to his teammate for one simple reason.

Oscar Piastri says title battle at McLaren will be ‘obvious’ between him and Lando Norris

Every F1 driver wants to win the ultimate prize in the sport and it can be just as tough going up against your teammate as it is with a driver in another car.

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg both showed how relations can sour if things get too heated at Mercedes, but Piastri is keen that something similar would not happen at McLaren.

Piastri: “The big message is, if either one of us can’t win the world championship, then we still want to be able to finish second. That’s the mentality we’ve had while we have been together. Even towards the back of the grid, we worked very hard together to try and bring them back to the front and ideally make it a race between first and second. We showed last year and the year before that we’re very respectful and capable of racing each other, but only one of us can win.”

Interviewer: “Have you spoken to him about winning the title?”

Piastri: “No, I don’t think we will speak about it as well because I think it’s pretty obvious.”

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri head-to-head

Norris is entering his seventh season at McLaren, having been their main star that came through their driver programme during his time in junior formulas.

Brown believes Norris has learned a lot from how to race Max Verstappen in 2024, and is determined to come back and prove his doubters wrong in 2025.

Norris has good form while at McLaren, having beaten experienced drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Carlos Sainz. He’s currently also outscored Piastri in every season so far, with an 82-point lead over his teammate.

Piastri is certainly a star of the future, but given his previous results it might be easier for McLaren to back Norris should they be in a position where they can challenge for titles.