PADDOCK INSIDER: Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris ready for battle in Austria as McLaren hopes for no crash repeat

Norris has become engrained in McLaren since joining the operation in 2017, initially as part of their development programme, and he considers them family. That’s why the incident hurt even more because he felt he had let everyone down.

But he dealt with the tough conversations and reaction head-on and has since reflected that it has ultimately made McLaren stronger.

“I think from that point it was, yeah, an unfortunate positive,” he said. “Between the trust and the honesty I think that Oscar and I have for one another, it’s important that we keep it up, we stay strong as a team because we don’t want to have the downfall that we know many other teams have had in the past.

“We want to race each other fair and hard and on the limit and not have a repeat of what happened last time out, and that takes both of us, even though Canada was on me, so, yeah, from a mentality point of view, from a constructive point of view, I think that’s why it was positive.”

‘It can only be one of us’

Piastri leads Norris by 22 points – almost a Grand Prix win. When a team haven’t won a drivers’ championship for nearly two decades, it’s inevitable that there will be questions about when and if the team will choose to favour one over the other at some stage. The Australian, though, gave such talk short-shrift.

“I think, for me, I just want – and we all want – a fair opportunity trying to win both championships, especially in the Drivers’ Championship, because ultimately, it can only be one of us,” he said.

“I think the situation has to change dramatically to start having those conversations, and they’re a very long way away at the moment.

“So at the moment, all I can ask for is a fair chance to try and win the championship, and that’s what I want as well. No, I’m not willing to enter those talks at all.”