McLaren team-mates Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.
Although Oscar Piastri has declared he will help Lando Norris to a certain extent, the Aussie says he’s in F1 “first and foremost” to win races himself.
Arguably the team making the most gains with their in-season upgrades, McLaren’s MCL38 has emerged as the strongest car on the grid allowing the team to take control of the Constructors’ Championship.
Oscar Piastri: I’m here to try and win races
But it’s not only a case of McLaren having the best car, they also have one of the best driver line-ups in Piastri and his team-mate Norris. And it is showing in the standings.
Norris currently sits second on the log, 52 points behind Max Verstappen, while Piastri is fourth in only his second season in the sport, a further 42 points down on his team-mate.
McLaren, acknowledging that Norris has the better chance of the two, intend backing the Briton for the title with team boss Andrea Stella telling BBC Sport: “We [will] bias our support to Lando.”
“But,” he continued, “we want to do it without too much compromise on our principles. Our principles are that the team interest always comes first. Sportsmanship for us is important in the overall way we go racing. And then we want to be fair to both drivers.”
And fair is what Piastri would ask for given he’s in F1 to win races himself.
“I’m here to try and win races, first and foremost,” he said in an interview with Code Sports. “I’m not here just to make up the numbers or be funny on the radio.”
Piastri already has two wins on the board this season, P1 in Hungary and again at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix where he put on a masterclass in defending to keep Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc at bay.
“I’m just really enjoying, firstly driving in F1, but also now being in a competitive position in F1, it’s a pretty cool place to be,” he said.
“Yes, there’s a lot of hype and I guess expectation. But I also quite like that.
“Normally if you’re not getting spoken about in F1, it’s because there’s nothing really that exciting going on for you. So I think the fact that we’re at the front of F1 is a very, very cool place to be.”
However, it’s not only McLaren who have made strides forward this season with Piastri’s growth as a driver, especially when it comes to tyre management, putting him at the sharp end of the field.
“I’m about where I expected to be or wanted to be,” he said. “I wouldn’t really say I’m ahead of where I wanted to be, because I think if you’re ahead of where you wanted to be, unless you’ve won every race, you probably set your targets a bit too low for yourself. So, I’m about where I want to be.”