Guenther Steiner highlights ‘risk’ Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will take that will cause headaches at McLaren

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The title battle between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri has started to heat up, with the two McLaren drivers now separated by 11 points at the halfway point of the season.

Norris has cut the gap, having been over 25 points behind Piastri after their collision in Canada, after winning two of the last three races.

His victory in Hungary came after he converted from a two-stop strategy to a one-stop midway through the race, after noticing that Piastri had started to lose time trying to keep up with race leader Charles Leclerc.

The clean air that Norris was given towards the end of his stint enabled him to open the gap to Piastri, while the Australian had to also deal with overtaking Leclerc once he completed his final stop.

Although Piastri caught up to Norris at the end of the race and tried two overtakes, the Briton held on and crossed the line separated by just 0.648s.

Discussing the race on the Red Flags podcast, former team principal Guenther Steiner has outlined how Norris’ decision could become an issue for McLaren in the final races of the season.

Guenther Steiner thinks McLaren drivers will want to ‘risk’ strategy more in title battle

McLaren have effectively sewn up the Constructors’ Championship, which means their desire for both drivers to finish one-two at every race isn’t as great as it was at the start of the season.

This means both drivers will be more likely to convert their strategies as Norris did in Hungary, something Steiner thinks could happen as early as the next race in Zandvoort.

Host: “Let’s go to Zandvoort when it’s a 50/50 and when it’s a close margin call, it’s kind of a dealer’s place, and Oscar asks: ‘What is Lando behind me going to do?’ – How will they (McLaren) react?”

Steiner: “I think they would tell him. But not make it clear the decision of what he wants to do, because if he thinks he cannot do it on a one-stop, he’s coming for a two-stop as soon as possible. You have the best tyre as long as possible, always, because there is a point of no return.

“When you say: ‘If I’m out there, I’ve lost lap time because I was going slowly due to the worn tyres’, you need to make these decisions. But if you have teammates this close together, it will always happen. The number two guy will always try to risk it because there is nothing to lose.”

READ MORE: McLaren driver Lando Norris’ life outside F1 from parents to celebration

McLaren’s Andrea Stella explains why McLaren battle won’t turn sour

McLaren have been direct with their drivers about their on-track conduct since last season, when things would get close between the pair.

Although it boiled over in Canada with a collision between Norris and Piastri, with the former being forced to retire and give up important points, it has largely stayed civil between the McLaren pair.

Andrea Stella says the relationship between their two drivers has got stronger, dismissing any chance of the title battle becoming sour.

The team has a history of teammate battles turning into internal warfare, whether it was Ayrton Senna’s rivalry with Alain Prost or Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso.