Former Formula 1 driver David Coulthard has discussed the rivalry between team-mates Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri at McLaren this year, claiming that it will “boil over”.
Norris and Piastri are currently in an intense battle for their first drivers’ championship title. At the point of the summer break, just nine points separate them, with the Australian leading the standings. McLaren famously lets both drivers race freely on track, with just one ‘papaya rule’: keep it clean.
The pair has only had one race-ending incident when Norris went for a gap that didn’t exist during a battle with Piastri in Canada. While Norris’s race ended in an early retirement, Piastri went on to finish the race in fourth.
“[Team-mates], 100%. It’s a misnomer. He’s not your mate. He’s your biggest rival,” Coulthard explained on the Indo Sport podcast. “He is the person that your success is his failure and vice versa. And you take pleasure in their failure. It’s as simple as that because it leads and builds. You’re hoping that it psychologically creates a problem for them that will give you an edge.
“So in that respect, any sportsman or woman or any sports person will completely understand that you cannot feel pleasure in someone else’s success when you’re trying to beat them. You can admire them, you can shake their hand and show your sporting respect, but if you’re happy for your competitor to beat you, you’re not wired right.
“It’s a very volatile relationship to manage, and it’s one of the most difficult roles for the team principal, whether it was Ron Dennis for Alain Prost and [Ayrton] Senna, Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet under Frank Williams, Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes.
“These are difficult situations which inevitably we will see boil over at McLaren, as with Lando and Oscar. We’ve seen little signs of it. One of those guys will be world champion this year, and it might be the only chance they get. Next year’s McLaren might not be any good. It’s a completely different sport next year. It’s still called Formula 1, but this could be their one chance.”
David Coulthard, TV Presenter, Mika Hakkinen
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Relating it to his own personal experience with his former team-mate Mika Hakkinen, Coulthard explained that his relationship with the Finnish driver has changed over the years and there is now nothing but respect between them.
“[The] relationship is great. The anger, frustration, feeling of hatred, which I always feel so guilty using the hate word, because it should normally be reserved for the most extreme people. But there were moments where I couldn’t stand him. He was infuriating. And there were moments I know where he couldn’t stand me.
“And that’s what’s so fascinating now, as grown-ups away from the sport, when we share and discuss and reminisce, is to see how difficult he found me to work with because, as you can tell, I’m just an absolute joy and turn up with chocolates and roses,” he said with a smile, “and how difficult and frustrating I found him.
“But it was because we both had a need and a desire and an understanding that we needed to beat the other guy. And we needed to break the other guy if we could. And that, to many people who are not involved in sport, they may find uncomfortable. But actually, it’s about bringing the best out in yourself.
“And as much as I just spoke about Eddie [Jordan] as being someone that you could have love and frustration in equal measures, it’s because he pushed boundaries, and he made you have to be on your A-game. And he made you have to be better. And Mika, as a team-mate, was exactly that.”
He added: “I can look Mika in the eye because we have been through a roller coaster of emotions together and I know I’ve got nothing there. There’s nothing more for me to try and hide from him. There’s nothing more for him to try and hide from me. There’s just respect.”
In this article
Be the first to know and subscribe for real-time news email updates on these topics
