The tides of the F1 2024 season turned the moment McLaren introduced its Miami upgrade package. Just like that, Lando Norris took his first win of the year, and Max Verstappen’s chokehold on the championship faced its first threat since 2021.

Though the WDC ultimately wasn’t possible this year, McLaren did take home its first constructors’ title in 26 years thanks in large part to the cooperation of drivers Norris and Oscar Piastri. But Piastri has a warning about “true friends” for his teammate.

Oscar Piastri: “It’s difficult to have true friends on the grid”

Though Lando Norris has just completed his sixth year in Formula 1 with the McLaren organization, this was the first season where the British driver was actually regularly in position to secure victories — and that can be credited as much to his driving skill as to McLaren’s comprehensive upgrades.

But alongside Norris at McLaren is Oscar Piastri. The driver’s sophomore year was 2024, and as his team improved, Piastri too began to find himself battling up at the front of the grid — and in position to potentially snag critical wins away from Norris.

McLaren introduced a code of behavior that it termed “papaya rules,” which effectively encouraged both drivers to race each other sensibly in order to prevent any unnecessary clashes.

Though there were some tense moments between Norris and Piastri, the 24-race season ended without any significant spats, though Piastri isn’t exactly ruling it out in the future.

More on McLaren in Formula 1:

👉 Who is Andrea Stella? From Michael Schumacher’s engineer to McLaren team principal

👉 ‘Papaya rules’ explained: What are McLaren instructing their drivers with new phrase?

Speaking of his teammate to The Gentleman’s Journal, Piastri said, “He’s definitely a tough teammate to go up against, but I think that’s a good thing. You want to always compare yourself with the best.”

Though the two drivers currently have a cordial relationship, Piastri didn’t rule out that things could change at any moment.

“If we’re fighting for first and second every weekend, then there’s always a little bit more tension, I guess,” he admitted.

“We’ve seen in the past, look at Lewis [Hamilton] and Nico [Rosberg], when you’re fighting for first and second, that’s when things can sometimes change a little bit. We’ve been in a position like that a few times now.

“It is difficult to have true friends on the grid, because at the end of the day, you’re trying to beat them all the time.”

And it’s perhaps even more challenging when that ‘friend’ is also your teammate — the No. 1 person you hope to beat. Maintaining a friendly relationship as you battle it out for a title can tear down decades-long relationships.

To that point, Piastri told The Gentleman’s Journal that he and Norris “don’t hang out that much outside of the track — we really don’t have that much time.”

Still, the two have engaged in a friendly game of padel — a game that Piastri admits isn’t his forte, though he also says Norris is “not bad, but I think I’m better.”

Heading into 2025, though, there’s not much time to worry about forging bonds. Rather, Piastri says: “Longer term, I want to win World Championships.

“That’s what we’re all here for, right?”

Read next: ‘Fiddle brake’ banned: The controversial McLaren braking system banned by the FIA