'9 times out of 10' - Crucial McLaren question gets conclusive answer

Oscar Piastri has delivered a definitive response to a critical question mark hanging over McLaren this F1 season.

The Australian believes the vast majority of the time, whoever is ahead of himself and Lando Norris at the start of a grand prix will also be ahead at the end of it.

With the F1 drivers' championship beginning to thin into a two-horse race between the team-mates, the focus on their relationship - and how McLaren navigates that - is intensifying.

The 24-year-old joked the pair were aiming to replicate the 2007 battle between Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, one of the darkest chapters in the Woking team's history.

When asked as a follow-up whether it is tougher to race a team-mate for an F1 championship, Piastri offered an insightful point.

"In some ways, yes. In some ways, no," the six-time grand prix winner replied to media including RacingNews365.

"We know pretty much exactly how one another drives. We know our strong points, maybe some of our weaker points. So from that side you have more information, but it goes both ways.

"We both know we’ve got the same car, so that removes one factor. But there are other complications with having the same car. You can have the same strengths and weaknesses on track."

There have been concerns throughout the first quarter of the campaign that the season will be largely determined by performance on Saturdays, in what has been coined a "qualifying championship" by Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur.

It is an outlook Piastri agrees with, particularly in McLaren's case, despite winning the Miami Grand Prix from fourth when Norris started second - a rare occurrence for the papaya pair of late.

"With how difficult it is to follow cars, 9 times out of 10, whoever’s in front at the start is probably going to be in front at the end," he explained in extension of the original question. "So it’s difficult like that.

"Then there’s the pit strategies and whatever that become a factor when you’re in the same team. There are positives and negatives."