Claire Williams praises Oscar Piastri for ‘flying the flag for Formula 1’ in Lando Norris title battle

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Oscar Piastri is now on the back foot in the hunt for the drivers’ championship, but former Williams boss Claire Williams has praised the Australian for ‘flying the flag for Formula 1’ during his intense title fight with Lando Norris.

The McLaren star started the season off in fine form as he snatched the lead from his British teammate after the fifth round of the season in Jeddah.

Piastri would go on to hold his position at the top of the F1 standings until the Mexico City Grand Prix, where a string of poor results in the final third of the season saw his advantage to Norris completely disappear.

Despite Piastri suffering from terrible luck during some instances where he was outscored by Norris, the 24-year-old still has a lot of positives to take from his first season as a title contender.

It’s difficult to believe he’s only in his third season of racing in the pinnacle of single-seater motorsport, and Claire Williams has praised the Australian for it.

READ MORE: Best moments of Oscar Piastri’s F1 career including first podium, win and best races

Claire Williams hails Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri for keeping it clean during their F1 title battle

McLaren secured their second consecutive triumph in the constructors’ championship at the Singapore Grand Prix in October, which cemented their position as the most dominant team on the grid, despite Zak Brown’s opinion on the matter.

It marked the first time that the Woking-based outfit has secured back-to-back title feats in the teams’ championship since their four-year period of dominance at the start of the 1990s.

In a recent appearance on talkSPORT, Williams was asked whether McLaren’s early clinching of the all-important title would have eased McLaren up on the demands of their drivers, to which she replied, “I think there probably is to some degree.

“I think it very much depends on what team you are as well, because all teams have different strategies depending invariably on what your business models are.

“But yeah, I think there probably will always be that you can go off and race a bit more now, go and have a bit more fun because we’ve won the constructors. For most teams, that’s the priority, and then they can allow their drivers to perhaps race a bit harder.

“That’s what we’re going to see, and that’s what we have been seeing, this brilliant race between Lando and Oscar, who are doing such a good job flying the flag for Formula 1 and trying to keep it as clean as possible.”

READ MORE: Ralf Schumacher ‘can tell’ Oscar Piastri is not being fully honest about Lando Norris relationship

Claire Williams details how difficult it is to keep two F1 drivers happy during an intense championship fight

One of the main narratives that has been in play during the McLaren duo’s battle for their maiden world title in the sport is the team dynamic.

On one hand, both drivers want nothing more than to become a world champion, whereas on the other hand, McLaren are adamant about the environment within the team staying polished.

It is crucial that they don’t reach the levels of toxicity that were present during Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg’s civil war at Mercedes during the mid-2010s.

During her appearance on talkSPORT, Williams was also asked how difficult it is to keep both of your drivers in check during such an intense battle at the top of the standings, to which she replied, “It’s not an easy piece of work.

“I think that at McLaren in Lando and Oscar, they’ve got two quite relaxed drivers. But equally, they’re both competitive. They both have fought to get to where they are in Formula 1 today.

“Both of their dreams for many, many years will have always been to win a driver’s championship and they will take that fight to each other on the racetrack. But trying to manage that isn’t an easy piece of work.

“You’re going to have best-laid plans going into every Grand Prix. You’re going to have the conversations with your drivers to keep it clean, keep it on the racetrack. But, you know, racing is a bit of a crazy business. You don’t know what’s going to happen when the lights go out.”