Norris: Tricky but not impossible to be friends with Piastri

F1 driver Lando Norris says it's "tricky, but certainly not impossible" to be friends with McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri.

The pair are in a close battle for the drivers' championship, with Norris trailing by nine points ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix this weekend.

"It's very difficult to have a combination of knowing deep down you really want to beat that person more than anything, but also have a very good working friendship," Norris tells BBC Newsbeat.

"I work so closely with him that [we're] naturally inclined to be good friends, but I also want that."

Earlier this month, McLaren Formula 1 boss Zak Brown said the pair will "not properly fall out" as their title fight comes to a head.

But Brown said he expects the pair to "swap paint again at some point" after Norris ran into the back of Piastri in Canada in June.

"I want to get along with the people that I work with," insists Norris: "I want to have a laugh and enjoy as many moments as I can."

Yet being friends with rivals "is not possible for everyone," he admits. "For me, I'm always open on getting along with the people I work with.

"But there are certainly other people, which is not a bad thing, that maybe want to stick more to themselves and focus on themselves. They don't want to be friends with other people."

'Gaming helps me'

Racing rivalry is something Norris first got a taste for while playing video games with his siblings as children.

"Especially with my older brother, there was always a big competition between us both about who could be the best."

Speaking to Newsbeat at a launch event for Sega's new video game, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, Norris says gaming has helped him get to - and stay - where he is.

"The main thing I always used to play was driving games - I think that always helped with reactions. I learned how I really didn't like to lose and I love to win."

Now 25 years old and one of the fastest real-life drivers in the world, he believes it benefits him off the track too.

"Gaming really helps me disconnect from a very chaotic, busy, stressful life."

"For me, it's important to disconnect and feel a little bit more normal again for a period of time," he adds: "It's nice to feel like a kid again. It's important to keep that part of me alive."

Lando Norris is nine points behind McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri in the Formula 1 drivers' standings

'A different me' on Twitch

This love for gaming is something Norris shares with his fans on streaming platform Twitch, where he has 1.8 million followers.

"It's quite a different me to what you see on the race track. There, I'm very much in work, driver, I want to win mode - a very determined mindset," Norris reflects.

"When I'm at home, I feel the same as everyone. I just want to be online with my friends, we play some games, we have a good laugh, and go to bed.

"It's much more personal - forget I'm a racing driver, forget I'm in Formula 1. I like to just hop online and take the mick out of one another and laugh and have a good time."

But Norris doesn't want to "forget" that for long.

"I don't get to even call my job a job because it's what I've always loved to do since I was a kid," he says.

"I don't drive because it's a job, I drive because it's what I've always loved to do."

Whether it's racing Oscar Piastri for world titles or gaming with his siblings growing up, there's one thing both versions of Lando Norris have in common: he loves to win.

So which rivalry is bigger?

"I certainly had more fights with my siblings when I was a kid than I've had with Oscar," he says.

"Maybe the meaning of what we're fighting for is a little bit different, but there was certainly more crying and tears - and fun moments, in some ways - with my siblings than I would say I have with Oscar.

"Fingers crossed that's the way it stays. It's hard to beat sibling rivalries."