Read time: 18 minutes

Lando and Oscar have just finished lunch. They’ve spent the morning mingling with the team and their families, taking photographs, and driving old cars around the McLaren Technology Centre grounds as part of the inaugural “MTC Grand Prix.”

The afternoon will be spent the same way, with both drivers offering to give up their free time to attend our annual Friends and Family open day at the MTC. It’s a rare chance for the pair to spend a day together in a relaxed scenario outside of a race weekend and free from completing laps on the simulator and breaking down data.

Following lunch, as those working tidied up from the morning’s session and prepared to welcome the afternoon’s cohort of friends and family, Lando and Oscar sat down with us to discuss the final six Grands Prix of the season. They reflected on the shifting expectations within the team, their relationship as a driver pairing, and looked ahead to the two season-ending triple headers, which will are set to define our title-bid. Here’s what they had to say…

Six huge races to go. How are you both feeling?

Oscar Piastri: I’m feeling good. Things have been going well since Miami, but since the summer break, it’s been really good. I’ve been on a roll, and the car has been performing well everywhere, which is really encouraging. In these final six races, I’ll be going to a lot of tracks for the second time, which should make my life a little easier. I am excited. The aim is to win the Constructors’ Championship and get us both as high up in the Drivers’ Championship as possible.

Lando Norris: Oscar summed it up well. I think the whole team are feeling very good at the minute because, like Oscar said, since the summer break, I feel like we’ve taken a step forward as a team and have been performing at a very good level. But the competition is tough, and a lot of people will be bringing big upgrades to Austin. We need to keep our heads down and stay focused. In order to compete for the Championship, I think we need to try and not think about it too much. We just keep doing what we’re doing because we’re doing a very good job. Every weekend, we’re going in with high hopes of podiums and wins, and that’s an exciting feeling, so I am looking forward to every race until the end of the season.

How have you both managed that shift in expectations as we’ve gone from fighting for points to podiums and wins every race?

Oscar: It doesn't change that much, personally. No matter what we’re capable of, we're always trying to get the most out of the car that we've got. That hasn’t changed, it’s just that now the car is capable of winning, which is more exciting. I guess there’s a bit more pressure if we get it wrong, as there’s more to lose, but at the same time, when you’ve got a car that’s a bit slower, you never really know whether you’re overachieving or underachieving. Whereas, if you win a race, you can’t do much more than that.

Lando: I'd agree that not much has changed. It’s all about the incremental stuff, now, so the smaller things feel more important, like with Pole positions, which have been split by hundredths and thousandths of a second over the last few months. That can easily be the difference between whether or not you are winning a race. In the past, it has been about getting the fundamentals right and then thinking about the rest, whereas when you’re fighting at the front, you need to have eyes on every single little thing.

You definitely have more to lose, and there’s more focus on you. Naturally, we will always put more pressure on ourselves - as will the whole team - but, as Oscar said, we are trying not to think about it too much. Our aim is to focus on what we’re doing and treat each round as just another Quali or just another race, trying to find every little bit we can.

Where have you improved throughout the season?

Lando: I couldn’t tell you one big thing that I am doing differently, but there are a lot of tiny changes in a lot of areas, whether that is how we’re working together or my driving style. By this stage of the season, you know what you need to think about and what you don’t, so it’s just about trying to iron things out and simplify it all, so you’re not over-complicating it. Efficiency is the main thing, finding that in our ways of working, so you can focus on what is important and any areas of weakness. Bumping things up to that next little level.

Oscar: The results I’ve got haven’t ever really come the easy way, but being able to make good overtakes that stick, and finding ways to recover to the positions where I should be, has been a real strength. I would say that my race management has improved a lot, especially from last year, but even just from the start of this year, I would say it has come on and is in a much better place. Qualifying better would be nice, but I think everything else has been improving, and I am happy.

How have you seen the team improve over the last two seasons?

Lando: When you’re fighting at the top, you’re fighting against the best of the best. We’re fighting against teams who have the experience of being in this position at the front a lot longer than we have. You need to be more tactical, you have to be smarter, and you need to make wiser decisions. You need to know when to take risks and when not to – sometimes, you have to think about the longer game. Whereas, if you’re in the midfield, you can think ‘let’s try this and see what happens’. You can happily take those risks more often, but you can’t put yourself in that boat as often when you’re at the front.

Oscar: I would say we’re getting more familiar and comfortable with racing at the front and the changes that come with that, whether that is the different types of risks you need to take and the bigger consequences to those or different teams you are racing against, as Lando pointed out. We’ve grown in those areas, but there’s still room to progress. We’ve not had much experience at the front, but we’re taking steps forward and learning from our mistakes.

Lando: I think everyone at McLaren, once they had their first taste of ‘what we can actually achieve’, took a step forward. I think that is evident in our performances. We’re now a more optimistic, harmonious and hard-working team in every department. These things are all crucial in Formula 1. Every area has taken a step forward, from trackside to the MTC, but that’s what we needed to do if we want to fight against Red Bull, Mercedes, and Ferrari, who have been in this position a lot longer than we have.

Oscar: From a technical side, we’re taking steps forward with the car and doing exactly what we need. Everything we’re putting onto the car is working and making it faster. We’re still finding little bits and pieces here and there as well, which makes a difference when the gaps are this tight. The team is really embracing the challenge of fighting for a Championship. I think we are both personally improving, and the team is definitely coming along with us on that ride.

What impact has Andrea Stella had on this?

Oscar: A massive influence. I haven’t worked with a Team Principal other than Andrea, but I don’t think I need a comparison with anyone else to understand that he's doing a phenomenal job across the board. The culture he's instilled in the team has been incredible, both at the track and the factory. We do have some new people who have joined the team, but since the beginning of this turnaround, it’s mostly been the same people. Andrea has unlocked the potential of the team, and I think that speaks volumes about him. We get on very well, and I think the job he's done leading the whole team has been phenomenal.

Lando: Unlike Oscar, I’ve seen different people at the top and a lot of change in my eight years at McLaren. I’ve seen ups and downs. Over the last few years, I think we’ve been slowly finding our way, but without knowing 100% what the clear direction of that is, in terms of ‘okay, this is exactly what we need and what we need to do’. We’ve improved areas over time but never as a collective. I think what Andrea has done is come in and understand as a collective what every department needs to do to improve. That doesn’t mean hiring 100 new people, it was simply understanding what people we have and utilising them in the best way.

Like Oscar said, a lot of the people in the team have been here since I have. It’s just that their positions have changed, and they can now work more freely, and I think that has unlocked their potential. Once you do that, and you have a team with the correct mindset, I think things flow a lot quicker and more efficiently. As I have said in many interviews, Andrea has been key to the whole thing.

How has your relationship as teammates developed over the past 18 months?

Lando: I don’t think it’s changed. We’re both quick, and we can learn from each other. We both understand we’re here to win, and neither of us will be happy with third or fifth place. We both want to be part of the team and part of getting McLaren back to being a front-running top team in Formula 1. When we were first teammates, a fifth, fourth or third was cool to have because it was rare for us at the time, but we weren’t happy - we would still come away disappointed because ‘the car was a handful’ or something needed improving.

Oscar: I think we’ve always worked well together. We’ve always wanted very similar things from the car. There may be some differences here and there, but the big picture of what we want has always been very similar. As Lando said, we’re always learning from each other. There are no egos involved, and we’re very much on the same page in that we want to work together to try and achieve first and second. We might not always be as comfortably first and second as we’d like, but we’re getting there, in terms of that consistency, so I think the bigger picture-thinking is paying off.

Lando: I would say we’re both good at having an eye on the bigger picture, which is ‘how can we still improve as a team’ and helping one another on the track and off it to achieve that. We weren’t happy until we started winning races, and even now, we’re not happy all of the time. There are times when, even if we’ve won, we’re not satisfied because we want to win by more or because the car was a handful, but I think that is the mindset you need.

What more do you want to see from yourselves and the team in these last six races?

Oscar: Some of the upcoming tracks were trickier race weekends for me last year, so my main aim is to improve from last year at those tracks. Then at the upcoming tracks where I performed well last year, it will be a case of trying to make some more good memories. Mostly, though, it is just about trying to get the most out of the car. We'll see whether that is good enough for us to win or not. Ultimately, the goal is to bring home the Constructors’ Championship and get us both as high up in the Drivers’ Championship as we can. That starts with the smaller things, such as how we manage each session and each weekend.

Lando: It’s always difficult to say because if it were easy, we would probably already be doing it. Consistency is always one of the biggest areas to focus on. I would say that consistency has been one of our strengths this year – we’ve consistently been one of the best teams throughout. We haven’t always been the quickest, but we’ve always been up there, and from a Championship point of view, I think that’s come to our advantage compared to other teams and drivers who have been more up and down.

For me, it is about keeping up this consistency and then just making everything count, because the higher we finish in the Constructors’ Championship, the less time you get in the wind tunnel, so you’ve got to play it even smarter. It doesn’t get easier when you get quicker and nearer to the top, you need to be smarter with your upgrades and in what areas you need to improve. If anything, it probably gets harder, and that is when you need consistency in your work ethic and motivation, all of those things that we now have. The last thing you want is for people to get comfortable or think they can take it easier once you’re at the top. Once you’re winning, you want people around you who want to win by more. This is where we are right now, and it needs to stay that way for a long time.