Oscar Piastri has never sounded especially interested in mythology, and he’s not about to start now just because his team-mate has a number one plate.
Asked in Bahrain how he views the start of 2026 with Lando Norris arriving as the reigning world champion, Piastri’s answer was dry, pointed, and very on-brand: Norris has had a great year, he deserved the title — but he hasn’t “become Superman”.
It’s a neat line, but it also lands on something more revealing about McLaren’s dynamic heading into the first season of the new regulations. Piastri isn’t framing this year as a respectful apprenticeship under a newly crowned superstar. He’s framing it as unfinished business inside the same garage.
McLaren’s 2025 title tilt ended up being a story of momentum. Norris overturned a points deficit to Piastri as the year wore on, and when the championship tightened, he finally found the stretch of form that had occasionally flickered without fully igniting. Wins in Mexico and Brazil — with Brazil described even by rivals as one of his most commanding afternoons — flipped the standings on their head. From there, it became a matter of managing the last handful of races well enough to beat Max Verstappen by the narrowest of margins.
Piastri, meanwhile, was left to chew on the “what ifs”. The Australian’s late-season struggles on low-grip circuits were costly, and the Vegas weekend in particular was disastrous: both McLarens were disqualified, and Piastri’s subsequent run of DSQ, P2 and P3 left him 11 points behind Norris in the final accounting. In a title fight that ultimately turned on two points at the front, those are the kinds of swings that tend to leave scars.
Yet Piastri’s public posture has been to treat it as a bruise rather than a wound. He hasn’t been interested in selling a grievance about “questionable” calls, and he isn’t hinting at internal score-settling now. If anything, he’s leaning into the old-school reading of what a top team should do when it has two genuinely quick drivers: let them race, and deal with the consequences like adults.
“I expect that we will both be allowed to race hard and fairly and do our very best, both on a personal level and team level,” he said. That line matters. It’s not just a statement of intent; it’s a subtle reminder of the balance McLaren has tried to strike since Piastri arrived — backing the constructor’s goals without turning one side of the garage into a supporting act.
Of course, the easy part is saying it in February, when everyone is still using phrases like “natural evolution” and “tweaked”. The hard part is saying it in September when one car is 18 points ahead and the pit wall is staring down a strategic fork in the road with the championship on it. Piastri seems to understand that, too, acknowledging there will be “discussions” as the season unfolds — just not accepting the premise that those discussions automatically flow in one direction now that Norris has a crown.
If there’s a sharper edge to Piastri’s confidence, it’s that 2026 offers a reset that drivers in his position rarely get. New regulations have a way of flattening reputations for a while. Norris brings the status; Piastri brings the opportunity to hit the first races with a clean slate and no obligation to behave like the junior partner. The question isn’t whether he believes he can beat Norris over a season. He says he sees “no reason” why it can’t happen. The question is whether McLaren can keep its internal temperature under control if it does.
The wider competitive picture is, for now, appropriately hazy. Piastri noted that Charles Leclerc looked quick at the final test and that Ferrari’s launches caught the eye, while also acknowledging the paddock suspicion that Mercedes might be masking more than it’s showing.
His read on Mercedes was tellingly cautious rather than dismissive: they “seem reasonably confident about the development of the engine,” he said, adding that McLaren feels positive too — but that Melbourne will be the “litmus test”.
That’s the other part of the Piastri-Norris subplot people sometimes miss: it only becomes the sport’s main narrative if McLaren begins 2026 with a car that keeps them at the front. If one of the usual suspects nails the regulation shift, the intra-team tension doesn’t disappear, but it does change shape. It becomes less about title etiquette and more about who drags the project forward, who takes the risks, and who ends up carrying the team’s hopes when the easy points aren’t there.
For now, though, the most interesting thing about Piastri’s Bahrain comments is how little deference he’s willing to perform. Norris is the champion. Piastri is treating that fact as context, not hierarchy.
And if McLaren really does allow them to race “hard and fairly”, then the first real fight of the new era may not be about who reinvented the floor or who found the cleverest loophole. It might simply be about whether the champion in papaya can keep the seat warm against the guy beside him who doesn’t believe in superheroes.
