Oscar Piastri ‘selfishness’ admission amid ‘pretty straightforward’ McLaren title goal

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri shake hands.

Oscar Piastri has explained how selfishness is a key element for every F1 driver in their bid for success on the track.

With Piastri not yet falling in behind Lando Norris in a supportive position as McLaren bids for the world championship, the Australian has revealed how there’s much more at stake than his own personal ambitions.

Oscar Piastri: Motorsport is a weird sport!

At 43 points behind Lando Norris in the Drivers’ Championship in fourth place, Oscar Piastri is very much an outside contender for the title as he is 105 points behind championship leader Max Verstappen with eight Grand Prix weekends remaining.

But, despite this, McLaren is yet to enforce a supporting role upon the Australian in his sophomore year in F1, which is resulting in Piastri coming home ahead of Norris on occasion to cost the British driver points.

For now, all’s fair in love and war and Piastri hasn’t yet indicated he’s been asked to play a supporting role for his teammate.

But, opening up in an interview with GQ Magazine, Piastri spoke about how he finds F1 strange in that, while fighting for individual glory, the needs of the team supercede a driver’s own goals.

“It’s definitely something you have to balance,” he said.

“Motorsport is a bit of a weird sport in that, in some ways, it’s an individual sport within a team sport.

“Now in the position we’re in, fighting for the championship and an outside chance for a drivers championship, that adds a completely different element to what we’ve had in the past as a team. We have a very strong chance of being able to win the constructors championship so it’s pretty straightforward to focus on that.”

As for how Piastri balances that need for personal glory with the desires of the team, he explained that it’s actually quite straightforward in his mind.

“We’re a team of over 1000 people, and I’m just one of the two guys that gets to drive the car,” he said.

“I appreciate that without the whole team, it wouldn’t be possible in the first place. There’s much more at stake than just my personal pride or ambitions.

“Hopefully, I can make a bit of an extra difference on track as all the drivers do but it’s pretty straightforward to understand that we are a massive team, and there are the ambitions of 1000s of people here, as well the millions of fans that we have. There’s a very big picture at play, but ultimately, if you make your car quick enough, then you get the opportunity to balance both.”

At a time when the dynamic between Piastri and Norris and that of the team itself is coming sharply into focus as Red Bull focuses its efforts on Max Verstappen entirely, Piastri said it’s only normal for drivers to feel selfish.

“It’s a very cool position to be in but as a driver, there is an element of selfishness in there, which is partly what makes us strong as drivers,” he said.

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The relationship dynamic was very much in the spotlight at Monza as Piastri overtook Norris on the opening lap of the race, with the instruction to follow ‘Papaya Rules’ entering F1’s lexicon as the drivers were reminded of their responsibility to the team.

Speaking to media, including PlanetF1.com, after the race, team boss Andrea Stella spoke about the rules of engagement the drivers are expected to follow when racing each other.

“I don’t want to be more specific, because ultimately, even the way you go racing, the conversations and the agreements you have with your driver, they are part of your IP [intellectual property],” he said.

“I think we want to be open, we want to be transparent, give everyone also some understanding of what is going on, but we want to retain some sort of confidentiality for ourselves.

“I think I’ve given already enough of the sense of how these rules are generated because we want to retain integrity and fairness in the way we go racing.

“We want to apply common sense, but at the same time, we definitely need to be in the quest for both championships.”

As for whether Piastri will be subject to team orders from now, the Australian was silent when asked about it in the post-race press conference as Lando Norris said he doesn’t expect to be waved past his teammate.

But Stella said the team intends on only implement instructions on the basis of complete fairness and transparency.

“I think it will be if the things we say are sensible, according to the principles I said before, like fairness, because it’s also fairness that, if you support your team-mate, winning the championship for the team is a big boost,” Stella explained.

“If we win both championships, it’s a massive boost, and it benefits for a big boost of the team, even if he is the other driver, okay, because we don’t have to forget that Oscar is in the middle of his second season in Formula 1.

“The future is Oscar’s, okay? You need to make sure that when it’s the time to support, even the support he gives to the team or to Lando, for him it’s an investment.”

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