Oscar Piastri explains why Lando Norris rivalry never turned 'nasty' at McLaren

Lando Norris, McLaren, Oscar Piastri, McLaren

"So it really didn't change much, because we both knew the situation we were in of trying to beat each other, and only one of us could win. We knew all of that, but it never got nasty. I think that's a really important thing because I think it would have been very easy for last year to have got nasty.

"And if it really got bad, there probably would have been the question of whether one of us was even sitting here doing this interview wearing orange. The team dynamics are so important to protect going forward.

"Obviously, we've not quite started this year the way we want, but it would have been so easy for the battle of last year to make it look 10 times worse and 10 times worse for a long time."

He added: "We obviously had a couple of times where we came together, but there was never... I think in title battles, especially between team-mates, that have turned sour, there's normally been some element of games or trying to hide stuff or something like that.

"For both of us, we're just not really like that. But also, we've seen that play out as well, and it doesn't take much to get into that sequence of, 'I'm going to do this', and then the team-mate goes, 'Oh well, OK I know you did that, so I'm going to do this', and then it just escalates.

"For both of us, even if we did have problems, they were never intentional. Even if we felt like we'd crossed the line either, we never had to confront each other. But I think we both knew if we'd crossed the line ourselves and went, 'My bad.' And the team held us accountable for that as well. We had a good system to keep things friendly."

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