Piastri Expects Norris to Maintain Aggressive Approach Despite Points Lead

Oscar Piastri is maintaining his championship focus despite increasing his points lead over teammate Lando Norris, who retired at last week's Dutch Grand Prix. Piastri now holds a 34-point advantage with nine Grands Prix weekends remaining.

Why it matters

Piastri's consistent approach underlines the high-stakes nature of the championship, even with an improved points buffer. His comments offer insight into the internal dynamics and racing philosophy at McLaren as the season progresses.

The details

Despite the increased gap, Piastri emphasized that his mindset remains unchanged.

• Unwavering Focus: "I've got personal experience of this not being a comfortable gap," Piastri told GPblog at Monza. "It's still far too early for me calculating and settling for positions that aren't first. So for me, the process is exactly the same. That won't change until the gap is pretty significantly bigger or the amount of races is significantly smaller."
• Norris's Approach: When asked if Norris would become more aggressive with less to lose, Piastri responded, "I don't think so. I don't think much will change. It's certainly not out of fight. Yes, it's a bit more difficult now, but I don't expect much to change." He added, "I think we'll race each other the same way. I think the amount of risk we're taking will be the same. We're both trying to drive as fast as we can. It's not like we've been holding anything back from that side of things. So I don't think we're getting anything to change."

What's next

McLaren heads to Monza aiming for another strong performance. Piastri is particularly keen to secure a victory that eluded him last year, where Charles Leclerc managed to outmaneuver the Woking-based team's cars with a one-stop strategy.