Oscar Piastri has revealed that he will remain “free to race” McLaren team-mate and polesitter Lando Norris in a fight for the race win in Formula 1’s Dutch Grand Prix.
McLaren’s continued resurgence in 2024 has seen it become a genuine contender to Red Bull as it has closed the gap in the Constructors’ Championship to 42 points.
The Woking-based squad has introduced several developments this weekend which inspired Norris to take pole position with a three-tenth margin to Max Verstappen.
However, Piastri was unable to deliver McLaren a front-row lock-out, as he came up short on his final attempt in Q3 to be almost five-tenths behind Norris’ benchmark.
“I didn’t crash like last year, so that was good!” Piastri quipped to media including Motorsport Week. “No, I think until the last lap, it was pretty good.
“Obviously, I think with the pace we had with the car today, I think P3 is not exactly a result to be jumping up and down about.
“But no, I think the rest of qualifying was pretty good. It all ran smoothly and I think a lot of those things were positive, just didn’t quite nail it when I needed to at the end.
“So a bit disappointing there, but we’ve still got a lot of opportunities starting from where we are.”
Piastri landed his maiden win earlier this season under clouded circumstances in Hungary as Norris deliberated over an order to relinquish a lead he lost at the start.
McLaren CEO Zak Brown has claimed that the team could consider implementing team orders later in the season to help Norris chase down Verstappen’s advantage.
But Piastri, who is 32 points behind his team-mate, has divulged that McLaren will not stop him from challenging for the victory this weekend should the chance arise.
“Yeah, the rules are very, very clear and haven’t changed,” Piastri said. “And yeah, we’re free to race each other to try and win.
“Of course, we’re in a Constructors’ Championship fight and we know that there’s a lot at stake for the team.
“But we’ve shown time and time again that we can race each other well, race each other cleanly. And yeah, we’re free to try and both win the race. That’s not changed.”
Piastri’s initial opening to displace Verstappen will come at the start, but the Australian is optimistic that further opportunities will open up should he remain in third.
“I think try and, of course, get a good start,” he previewed. “That would be the first plan.
“And, yeah, strategy could be an interesting thing tomorrow. So we’ll see. I think Max has got slightly different options to us.
“So, yeah, let’s see what we’ve got. But I think we’ve got a very quick car underneath us, and hopefully we can use that on my side to go a bit further forward.”
