‘You’re just a sh*t Lando’: Piastri shrugs off Barmy Army jibes as McLaren rivalry rolls on
Oscar Piastri went to the cricket and got exactly what you’d expect in Melbourne when England are in town: a chorus from the Barmy Army and a grin he couldn’t hide.
Fresh off a heavyweight 2025 Formula 1 season with McLaren, the Australian spent part of his off-season at the MCG for The Ashes and became an easy target for England’s traveling choir. The chant of choice — “You’re just a sh*t Lando Norris” — was delivered with all the subtlety of a short ball, and Piastri took it the way he tends to take most things: with a smirk and a shrug. Local TV cameras caught him circling the boundary with a smile, even appearing to play along.
It’s part sport, part theatre. And after the year Piastri and Norris just had, entirely predictable.
McLaren’s intra-team duel was the story of 2025. Piastri led the title race for a long stretch, then a bruising run of Sundays without a podium swung the door open again. Norris walked through it and came away with his first world championship, while Piastri completed the year among the frontrunners and very much in the fight, keeping Red Bull’s Max Verstappen honest along the way. You didn’t need to look much further than Woking to find the season’s defining contest.
The rivalry didn’t sour the garage; it sharpened it. Norris was quick to credit the teammate across the room when the dust settled, admitting Piastri forced him into places he hadn’t needed to go with previous McLaren partners.
“I’m glad I’ve had Oscar the last three years,” Norris told Sky F1. “Even though he’s still a lot newer to it than me, I’ve learned a lot from him, and he showed me up at many times. I wouldn’t be the driver I am today without that.”
He went further, opening the curtain a touch on the realities of a two-car title hunt — a juggling act for Zak Brown and Andrea Stella that every team claims to want until both drivers are nicking points off each other.
“People don’t understand how difficult it can be having teammates fighting for a World Championship,” Norris said. “Strategy is always more difficult. But the team would always take that over only having one car performing… I have to give a congrats to Oscar, because he’s driven incredible and at some point, he’s going to get the better of me.”
That last bit will have pricked up ears in Australia and beyond. Inside McLaren, the belief in Piastri is hardly a secret — Brown has already put the “future world champion” label on him — and the way 2025 unfolded did nothing to dull the hype. When the car was in the window, Piastri’s baseline speed was saw-toothed and relentless. When it wasn’t, his learning curve was steep and public, the sort of season that hardens a driver for the long haul.
So a few barbs from England’s cricket diehards? No problem. If anything, it underlines where Piastri sits now: a headline act in a team that’s rediscovered its bite, locked in a rivalry that’s box office without the poison.
There’s a fine line between heat and harm in these things, and McLaren walked it better than most this year. The team managed the chessboard, Norris found another gear, and Piastri banked the kind of experience you can’t simulate. The rest of the paddock was watching closely because this is what the modern title fight looks like when both cars are in play — awkward Sundays, strategic compromises, and two drivers learning to live on the edge without falling off it.
The Ashes will move on, the songs will change, and the MCG will swap whites for Big Bash neon. Back in F1, the script writes itself. Norris has the number one on his car; Piastri has receipts and momentum in hand. If the Barmy Army needs a new lyric by the time the lights go out again, don’t be surprised.
