Oscar Piastri has “no interest” in helping McLaren teammate Lando Norris, claims F1 commentator

F1 commentator Martin Brundle reckons Oscar Piastri will not help his McLaren teammate Lando Norris in the latter's pursuit of a first world championship. Brundle's comments come in the wake of an intense wheel-to-wheel battle in the Italian GP between the two drivers.

Piastri started his F1 career with McLaren alongside Lando Norris in 2023, impressing instantly with his on-track performance. In his debut season, he won his first F1 sprint race and scored 97 points in total. In his rookie season, he looked to have a lot of potential. In his second F1 season, he won his first Grand Prix in Hungary after McLaren team orders that were widely scrutinized.

Meanwhile, Norris has been chasing Max Verstappen for the drivers' championship battle but has failed to convert most of his pole positions into victories.

In his exclusive column on Sky Sports, Brundle has said he feels Piastri would not help Norris win his maiden world championship against Verstappen, owing to his "racer's mentality and killer instinct", giving the example of the Hungarian GP, where the Australian overtook Norris on the first lap.

“Piastri clearly has no interest in Norris’ World Championship chances against Max Verstappen, which we’d already witnessed in Hungary when he firmly seized the lead in the first corner,” Brundle wrote.

The F1 commentator reckons Piastri would be more focused on his own races and victories rather than his McLaren teammate's.

“The racer in me admires this attitude. That’s why Piastri won championships and ended up in a race-winning F1 car. The last thing which will excite him is Norris becoming World Champion in the same car.

That doesn't mean he won't help out at some point, and indeed that he hasn't helped out here and there already, but that racer's mentality and killer instinct is all important," he added.

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Lando Norris not willing to "beg" for a position against teammate Oscar Piastri

Lando Norris recently talked about Oscar Piastri helping him in certain ways, but that he would never "beg" his teammate for a position.

In the Italian GP, Piastri and Norris finished P2 and P3, respectively, with Charles Leclerc winning the race. Speaking to the media after the race, Norris said that he would not ask his teammate to move over and that his third-place finish was deserved.

“Yeah, he [Piastri] helps me. But I'm not here just to beg for someone to let me pass. That's not why I'm here. I'm here to race. He drove a better race than me, so I finished third, and that's where I deserved to finish," Norris said (via RacingNews365)

He added,

“We're still helping one another and I think that showed plenty of times this year that we're working together very well as a team and we're performing as the best team out on the grid and we're very happy with that."

As of now, Norris stands in second place in the drivers' championship with 241 points, while Piastri is in fourth place with 197 points.