Won’t matter once we’re all dead – Lando Norris plays down F1 title battle

Lando Norris said it does not matter if he fails to beat Oscar Piastri to the world championship because “in 200 years we will all be dead”.

Norris arrives for the concluding round before Formula One’s three-week summer shutdown 16 points behind McLaren team-mate Piastri in the standings.

The title momentum swung back in Piastri’s favour at last weekend’s rain-hit round in Belgium. Norris started on pole position but allowed Piastri to swoop past in the treacherous conditions.

Norris was unable to stop Red Bull’s Max Verstappen from taking his fourth consecutive championship last year, but such is McLaren’s superiority, it is team-mate Piastri who has emerged as his sole rival for this season’s crown.

Piastri has six wins to Norris’ four but when asked if he needs to get under the Australian’s skin to land his maiden F1 title, Norris replied: “I don’t enjoy that. In 200 years no one is going to care. We’ll all be dead.

“I am trying to have a good time. I still care about it, and that’s why I get upset sometimes and I get disappointed and I get angry at myself. And I think that shows just how much I care about winning and losing.

“But that doesn’t mean I need to take it out on Oscar. I just don’t get into those kind of things.”

Historically, intra-team title battles rarely end well in F1, but Norris continued: “Yes, he (Piastri) is the guy I want to beat more than anyone else.

“But if I don’t beat him, then that’s just because he has done a better job. I will do it the way I believe is best for me, and just because one person did it a few years ago, it doesn’t mean you have to do that, too. I don’t really care about those things.”

At the Hungaroring on Friday, Norris completed an impressive practice double – beating