McLaren team principal Andrea Stella can’t see the battle between teammates Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris ‘escalating’ into something more serious as both drivers compete for the Formula One world title. Norris struck his latest blow on Piastri after dominating practice in Sao Paulo, before taking pole for the sprint race in Brazil.
Norris’ win in Mexico saw him overtake Piastri in the drivers’ standings after the Aussie led the championship for the majority of the season. Only one point separates the McLaren teammates but the Brit appears to have all the momentum and showed that once again in sprint qualifying at Interlagos.
Lando Norris continued his charge towards the F1 title after beating McLaren Oscar Piastri to pole for the sprint race at the Brazilian Grand Prix. Pic: Getty
Piastri looked much sharper than his recent efforts in Austin and Mexico City but still couldn’t match Norris in all three qualifying sessions. The Aussie’s best effort also left him behind Mercedes’ driver Kimi Antonelli, who will start the sprint race from second.
Max Verstappen – 36 points behind Norris and the closest challenger for the McLaren pair in the championship standings – could only manage the sixth-best time. George Russell in the other Mercedes and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso were fourth and fifth, with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar and Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg rounding out the top 10.
Despite coming off second-best again, Piastri didn’t sound too worried after almost matching Norris in the earlier practice session. The Briton led the timesheets on 1:09.975 to the Australian’s 1:09.998.
“The soft (tyre) just was a bit different from what I expected,” Piastri said about his final run. “A couple of big moments on my first lap which wasn’t ideal, and that was a bit of a shame, but ultimately I felt much happier today than the last couple of weeks.
“Practice went very well, we changed a few things for qually, which took a little bit of getting used to again, but ultimately I’m pretty happy. Would have liked a little bit more, but we can definitely fight with what we’ve got and there’s obviously a lot more points on Sunday (for the main race).”
Lando Norris got the better of McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri again after taking pole position for the sprint race at the Brazilian Grand Prix. Pic: Getty
The threat of wild weather could throw a spanner in the works at Interlagos, and qualifying first will certainly benefit Norris in the sprint race. “It’s going to be an interesting day. Let’s see what weather we get. But I’ll try and take whatever opportunities there are,” Piastri added.
Norris was in a buoyant mood after securing his latest pole position, having overturned a 34-point deficit to Piastri at the end of August. “It was a little bit tougher than I would have liked, close between lots of cars – Mercedes were quick on the softs,” said a delighted Norris. “But we did the job we needed to do.”
McLaren comfortable with F1 title battle between teammates
All eyes will be on the McLaren drivers again as their battle for the F1 title heats up. And team principal Stella suggested they would continue to let Piastri and Norris go head-to-head, despite a number of recent incidents between the pair and the threat of Verstappen overtaking them in the standings.
The Italian doesn’t see any need for McLaren to change their strategy around the teammates. And he’s confident the fight for the title won’t derail their relationship as the run-in towards the championship heats up.
“I don’t think that’s the case,” Stella said. “Obviously, both drivers have known for a long time that the car was competitive, so they knew that there was a possibility to fight for the championship.
“But I don’t see that this is escalating in anything more than focusing each of them on their own weekend and try to extract the maximum. This requires a high level of dialogue, but this is something that normally we can do well at McLaren…
“We are not naive. We know that the pressure is high. We know that the stakes are big, but we will continue leaning on our framework, on our principles, on the good conversations. And so far, what I’ve seen is that Lando and Oscar have always been very supportive.
with agencies