For the first time in nine years, an intrateam battle is being waged for this season’s Formula 1 drivers’ championship.
McLaren has been the most consistent this season, and its drivers, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, the standout performers. Since the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at the end of April, Piastri has led the drivers’ standings, with Norris second. Ahead of this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix, the 18th of 24 races, they are separated by 25 points.
“For one of us, it’s going to be a pretty amazing time, and for the other it’s going to be pretty painful,” Piastri said in a news conference in September. “The team is very sensitive to that, which is nice.”
Piastri could become the first Australian to win the title since Alan Jones in 1980; Norris would be the 11th Briton, joining some of the greats of the sport, such as Lewis Hamilton, Jackie Stewart, Jim Clark and Graham Hill.
“The intensity will naturally increase as we get closer to the end of the year, and I’m ready for that,” Piastri said. “I’ve been in that position before in other championships. That kind of feeling and that countdown to the end of the year is the same.”
In 2019, Piastri won the Formula Renault Eurocup by 7.5 points. A year later, he won a tight race for the Formula 3 championship, in which the top three drivers in the standings were separated by only four points.
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