Formula 1 News: McLaren pair can handle 'fair' title battle

(GMM) Championship leader Oscar Piastri (pictured) thinks he and Lando Norris can handle an intense intra-team battle for the 2025 drivers’ title.

With Max Verstappen lurking in P3, McLaren’s two drivers are separated by just 3 points after a third of the current calendar.

So far, the team’s ‘Papaya rules’ have permitted them to fight.

“I think it’s great of the team that we’re both allowed to fight for race wins,” Piastri is quoted as saying by Bild newspaper in Barcelona.

Opinions up and down the pitlane are split as to whether the cooler but younger and less experienced Piastri, or the arguably quicker but more mentally fragile Norris, will triumph in the end.

Piastri insists the pair are taking it in their stride.

“We both knew – Lando and I – that we could get into this position this year. We talked openly about it,” said the 24-year-old.

“We agreed not to do anything unsportsmanlike – that’s not how we’re wired. It would be bad for both of us and for the team if we were to ruin our long journey together at McLaren because of a world championship title.

“We must not cross a fair, sporting line,” the Australian, managed by Mark Webber who is believed to have negotiated strict driver equality into Piastri’s contract, added.

“Lando, Max, and I will fight for victory here,” Piastri concluded in Barcelona.