Norris: At some point, something is going to happen [with Piastri]

Norris and Piastri have the MCL39, the best car on the 2025 F1 grid, at their disposal, and as such, they have to compete among themselves for the title while keeping Max Verstappen at bay, as the Dutchman is trying to remain in the mix with the hope of defending his title.

McLaren, on the other hand, have all but secured the constructors' crown, as they are 197 points clear of second-placed Ferrari in the standings, but they are braced for the moment the competition between their drivers heats up with all to play for, as Piastri is only ten points ahead of Norris in the championship.

While McLaren team principal Andrea Stella admitted his drivers may come to blows, they have been allowed to race for now, as the team's CEO, Zak Brown, insists on applying Papaya rules while managing Piastri and Norris.

That said, the manner in which McLaren have handled their drivers has not been ideal, and speaking to the media in Montreal on the eve of the Canadian Grand Prix, Norris admitted a confrontation with his teammate is just a matter of time.

He said: "We never said we're going to avoid everything. I think we've actually been quite open in saying at some point, something is probably going to happen.

"We just have to be ready for that. I think both Oscar and myself know that, we're competitive, we want to beat each other but the main thing is we stay strong together as a team. But everything is in the open, everything is obvious, everything is known between us.

"We both want to win, we both want to beat each other, but at the end of the day there can only be one person and that will be whoever performs the best over the course of the year.

"I think Andrea said it, it's not an 'if', it's a 'when' and we'll see when that time comes. But of course we'll try and avoid everything as much as possible but it's inevitable that it happens in racing," the Briton maintained.

Piastri has shown from day one that he is a match to Norris, and while the latter has held the edge in qualifying, the former has proven to be the better racing driver as he continued to grow and improve, and he now has more wins with McLaren than his teammate.

Norris admitted he needed to deliver his A game should he hope to beat Piastri and said of him: "He's in his third season of F1, I remember in my third season you just come into the year a little bit more confident and with a bit more knowledge and just a more complete driver.

"That's what he's done and he's performing well, he's driving incredibly well and at a very high level and deserves everything he's been doing at the minute. It's a good fun rivalry between us," Norris concluded.