Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri handed 'ruthless' title battle defence

Former F1 driver Perry McCarthy has praised the measured approach of the McLaren team amid the ongoing title fight, but asserted both of the drivers remain “ruthless” by nature.

The championship battle between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris has ebbed and flowed throughout the campaign.

While there has been little to separate them on the track, there have been no emotional outbursts between the pair, which has often been a factor between intra-team title rivals from the past.

Norris and Piastri clashed in the dying laps of the Canadian Grand Prix, but the incident was quickly brushed aside by the team, with no lingering hangover occurring.

Last time out at Monza, Piastri complied with a team order to hand second place back to Norris after the latter suffered a slow pit stop and lost position as a result.

But as the team harmony continues to be retained at McLaren, McCarthy denied it means the drivers lack merciless qualities.

“What you’ve got to differentiate here is, do not think that either driver is not ruthless,” McCarthy exclusively told RacingNews365.

“They are embedded in a culture of a team that's going about things differently. They can go short-term gain and they'll experience long-term pain.

“Oscar has already been quoted as saying both he and Lando are staying with this team for a long time.

“So if you want to start playing games now and going against the absolute ethos of this team, that's it.

“But don't think either of them are not ruthless. They are. That's how they've got to where they are.

“But they're boxing in within a culture that's telling them ‘these are some of the guidelines’.

“That’s where McLaren has been very strong in creating and implementing this culture. It's working for everybody.”

McLaren approach 'different - it doesn't make it wrong'

Some of the most explosive F1 rivalries have been born from team-mates battling for the title, with Ayrton Senna vs Alain Prost and Lewis Hamilton vs Nico Rosberg being two examples.

However, the management of the drivers has ensured no such cynicism has crept into the McLaren battle as of yet.

“Previously, when we've seen other situations, going back to Nico and Lewis, they're highly aggressive,” McCarthy reflected.

“At that moment in time, the culture, the management, wasn't saying ’you've got to work together’.

“But you have to remember that their relationship deteriorated very badly. Some people find that kind of intense bitterness, etc, propels them.

“Sometimes when you see absolute war, that can be fun to watch as well.”

McLaren has highlighted its racing principles on various occasions throughout the season as it closes in on its first drivers' title since 2008.

As the campaign enters its final third and McLaren seek to maintain unity, McCarthy stated there is little wrong with wanting to implement such an approach and avoid the headaches that have been created in the past.

“It appears that they've got their values and how they go racing embedded in all of them,” he said.

“It appears to be different from anybody else out there, but different doesn't necessarily make it wrong.”