McLaren’s season has often been overshadowed by the much-discussed “papaya rules”, yet Oscar Piastri believes his relationship with Lando Norris has grown stronger. Although they are team-mates, they have also been each other’s main rivals in the championship fight since the start of the year. The pair have had a few difficult moments, including collisions in Canada and Singapore and the well-known team-orders incident at Monza.

Despite this, Piastri says their relationship has only improved. Speaking on the Beyond the Grid podcast, he said: “I think it’s either exactly the same or, honestly, probably better than it has been.” He explained that spending three years together as teammates has helped them understand each other more: “We just slowly got to know each other more and more.” Piastri added that any frustrations are short-lived: “Maybe there are short-lived emotions off the track, but I think we’re both quite good at just letting things die down and leaving things on the track.”

Piastri also defended McLaren’s management style. The team’s “papaya rules” have been criticised for being too strict, but he believes they help maintain fairness and clarity. “It is the way we’ve always operated,” he said, adding that treating both drivers equally is the natural starting point. He praised the team for giving both him and Norris freedom to race cleanly, saying: “We’ve been free to race for the year… nice for us to have it in our own hands.”

However, some moments have still been painful. Piastri’s toughest experience came at Silverstone, where he missed out on a likely win after receiving a time penalty for excessive braking behind the Safety Car. Norris went on to win, while Piastri finished second. Reflecting on it, he admitted: “That one definitely hurt for a little bit.” But he also said that he refuses to dwell on negative moments: “If I had just sat there going, ‘I think that was a crap decision’… then probably it would still hurt a lot to this day.” Instead, he focuses on what he could have done differently.

With only three races left and a 24-point gap to Norris, Piastri is fully focused on the future rather than the past. He says keeping a clear head is essential in Formula 1, adding: “When you sit on things and bottle it up… that’s when the emotions can be a bit overwhelming.”