The McLaren pair are starting to put daylight between themselves and Max Verstappen in the F1 title race and, soon, the only thing in the way of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will be each other

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are each others’ biggest rivals in the F1 title fight(Image: Formula 1 via Getty Images)

Lando Norris admits “tough moments” are ahead that will test his relationship with team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri. But the Brit insists he and everyone at McLaren will do all they can to prevent all-out war breaking out between the garages.

Formula 1 history is littered with examples of the relationship between team-mates breaking down when they are both gunning for glory. McLaren have their own high profile examples, with Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost in the late 1980s and, more recently, Fernando Alonso versus a rookie Lewis Hamilton in 2007.

At other teams, Hamilton also saw his relationship with Nico Rosberg deteriorate as they battled for supremacy at Mercedes between 2013 and 2016. And that came after periods of significant tension at Red Bull when Sebastian Vettel dominated and Mark Webber had to watch on with envy.

So far at McLaren, things have been very friendly. But it remains very early days in terms of the team’s ability to compete for the F1 drivers’ title and Norris knows himself that the atmosphere is likely to change at some point.

He said: “Of course, I think it will change. I don’t think it’s always going to be perfect and we’re always going to get on as well as we probably do now, because I’m sure there’s going to be some tough moments. Whether it’s this year, or next year, or the year after, I think we know that.

“I think we both know that there could be some trickier moments in the future but, until then, we’re team-mates, we work for McLaren and that’s our job at the end of the day.

“At the minute, there’s no need for things to be any trickier than they normally are. Of course, the data is open, all of these things are open and that’s always the case it is in teams, but there’s no reason for it to be any different than it normally is. We both go out on track, we both want to enjoy our lives here, we go on and we do the best job we can, and we go out.”

Max Verstappen has given the McLaren drivers a common enemy to unite against so far this season. But after the Dutchman’s penalty saw him score just one point last time out in Barcelona, he is 49 points adrift of championship leader Piastri and has the threat of a race ban hanging over his head which would be further damaging to his title hopes.

But even as the drivers’ title race looks increasingly likely to become a direct head-to-head between the McLaren pair, Norris insists his priority is to make sure things don’t get out of hand. He said: “There’s been plenty of examples of things not going as smoothly as they have done, and teams then going on a downward spiral.

“That’s obviously what we want to avoid as a team and that’s our priority. I’ve always got on with my team-mate because that’s something I’ve always wanted to do. Of course I want to beat them and I’ll do whatever I can to beat whoever I’m against, and that includes my team-mates, [but] we get on now. There are going to be tougher moments, but there’s no point trying to guess what they’re going to be.”