Lando Norris warns Oscar Piastri they should “be ready” for a crash in the F1 2025 season as the two McLaren drivers battle for their maiden championships in the sport, split by 10 points ahead of the Canadian GP.
Despite being separated by such a fine margin, the pair have rarely gone wheel-to-wheel save for the Emilia Romagna GP when Norris had a major tyre advantage over his Australian teammate and could easily pass him.
As a result, there have been no flashpoints that defined rivalries such as Ayrton Senna/Alain Prost, Lewis Hamilton/Nico Rosberg, Hamilton/Max Verstappen or even Verstappen/Norris from 2024.
Both the Brit and his colleague are still unsure of how they will treat each other when they clash on track, although moments such as 2024’s Hungarian GP and Italian GP suggest it could quickly get messy.
In light of this, Norris warns Piastri to “be ready” for a crash as they squabble over the F1 titles, feeling it will be an inevitability when the pair eventually meet on track in their season-long battle.
“We never said we’re going to avoid everything,” Norris said to F1 TV. “I think we’ve actually been quite open in saying at some point, something is probably going to happen. We just have to be ready for that.
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“I think both Oscar and myself know that, we’re competitive, we want to beat each other but the main thing is we stay strong together as a team. But everything is in the open, everything is obvious, everything is known between us.
“We both want to win, we both want to beat each other, but at the end of the day there can only be one person and that will be whoever performs the best over the course of the year.”
Norris added: “But of course we’ll try and avoid everything as much as possible but it’s inevitable that it happens in racing.”
Norris warns McLaren more important than F1 battle with Piastri
With both racers competing for McLaren, the team are in a unique position to control exactly how this Formula 1 season plays out in terms of the drivers’ championship. If they wanted to, they could ensure Norris doesn’t finish another race.
Whilst that’s an unrealistic scenario, does highlight the influence Andrea Stella has in this battle and makes it unique compared to 2024’s clash with Verstappen, as the four-time world champion races for Red Bull.
So it’s not a surprise that the team have sent a clear message that McLaren’s goals and priorities as a team come before Norris and Piastri‘s personal aims, and the Brit understands the message loud and clear as he admits the constructors’ championship is the key target in the season.
“I’m employed by the team, and I have to drive and race for them,” Norris told BBC Sport. “As a number one, it is a constructor. That’s what we have to win in the end of the season.
“But then there’s the individual championship.Everyone’s seen plenty of championships as team-mates turn sour and go in the wrong direction.
“And that normally leads to many things, like a domino effect of things starting to fail. And that’s what we don’t want. We know we still want to race. We’re free to race against each other as individuals.
“But we also know our sole purpose is to race for McLaren, the team, the name we race under. And that’s something we’re both very proud of doing.”
