David Coulthard is relishing the fight between McLaren team mates Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris so far this season, making comparisons to the 2021 title race and the years he spent alongside Mika Hakkinen at McLaren.<\/p>\n
After 12 of 24 scheduled Grands Prix, Piastri leads Norris by the slender margin of eight points \u2013 equivalent to a sixth-place finish \u2013 in the Drivers\u2019 Championship standings<\/a>, having won five races to his team mate\u2019s four.<\/p>\n Ahead of the campaign resuming at this weekend\u2019s Belgian Grand Prix, Coulthard<\/a> praised Piastri for holding the edge but likened the situation to Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton\u2019s pulsating scrap<\/a> four years ago.<\/p>\n \u201cIf it was half a World Championship, Oscar\u2019s won,\u201d stated Coulthard, who made 246 starts in the top echelon, scoring 13 wins, 62 podiums and more than 500 points.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think anyone could say he hasn\u2019t deserved to be leading \u2013 he was leading before [the McLarens] came together in Canada<\/a>. But if Lando turns it around in the second half of the season, he\u2019s doing it against someone that\u2019s a talented third year F1 driver.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a bit like 2021, where some people are still so vocal about what happened\u2026 only one driver could win. Both Max and Lewis drove like World Champions that year, but only one of them could have the title.\u201d<\/p>\n Referencing how the intra-team fight has been managed so far, Coulthard continued: \u201cI think McLaren have handled it really well. I think both their drivers are on the tamer side of animal than the wilder side of animal, so that probably makes it a little bit easier.<\/p>\n \u201cBut this could also be their only chance to win a world title; we don\u2019t know what 2026 brings, we don\u2019t know what the future is, so you\u2019ve got to seize the moment.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019m really impressed with how Oscar has stepped up this year. But Lando\u2019s response over the last two races is showing his quality as well. I think it\u2019s going to be one of those things where both of them deserve it, but only one can get it.\u201d<\/p>\n Coulthard added that he had long been braced for the aforementioned clash between Norris and Piastri in Canada, drawing on his own experience alongside Hakkinen at McLaren from 1996 to 2001, which included several flashpoints.<\/p>\n \u201cI predicted the coming together, because I\u2019ve been there and done that \u2013 I crashed into Mika, he crashed into me,\u201d said the Scot, who memorably collected his team mate on the first lap of the 1999 Austrian Grand Prix<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s always going to be the case that no matter how tight a team is, once you have the intensity of both drivers having a chance to win, then that\u2019s going to get more and more complicated.\u201d<\/p>\n While McLaren are in a strong position in both championships, Coulthard has not yet ruled out Verstappen and Red Bull getting back in the mix \u2013 the Dutchman sitting 69 points adrift of Piastri as things stand.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t rule Max out,\u201d Coulthard argued, while lauding Verstappen\u2019s stellar Qualifying effort<\/a> at Silverstone last time out. \u201cI think for the championship, we all know it\u2019s going to take an upgrade to unlock some performance.<\/p>\n \u201cWhere Red Bull are right now, and if they were frozen, it\u2019s difficult to imagine that the second half of the season circuits are suddenly going to suit the Red Bull better than the first half.<\/p>\n \u201cIt will take an upgrade from Red Bull to give him the consistency. Are they capable of doing it? Absolutely. Have they done it before? Yes. Is Max exceptional? Absolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n