Lando Norris-Oscar Piastri told "he is not your mate, he's your biggest rival"

Former McLaren driver David Coulthard says it is inevitable that the rivalry between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will “boil over” at some point as they duel for the 2025 Formula 1 title.

McLaren arguably has the most evenly-matched line-up on this year’s grid, with just nine points separating championship leader Piastri and his more experienced teammate Norris during the mid-season break.

So far, the Woking-based squad has done a great job of containing their rivalry, with a collision between the pair in Canada being quickly defused by its bosses.

However, as the championship fight intensifies in the second half of the season, there is a risk of tension building between Piastri and Norris, both of whom are still only in their 20s.

McLaren F1 drivers 'not mates, he's your biggest rival'

Speaking about the psychological aspect of fighting against your teammate in F1, Coulthard said neither of the two drivers would be willing to spare an inch in the title run-in, knowing this could be their last chance to win a championship for some time.

"[Team-mates], 100%. It's a misnomer. He's not your mate. He's your biggest rival," Coulthard said on the Indo Sport podcast.

"Your success is his failure and vice versa. And you take pleasure in their failure. It's as simple as that because it leads and builds. You're hoping that it psychologically creates a problem for them that will give you an edge.

"So, in that respect, any sportsman or woman or any sports person will completely understand that you cannot feel pleasure in someone else's success when you're trying to beat them. You can admire them, you can shake their hand and show your sporting respect, but if you're happy for your competitor to beat you, you're not wired right.

"It's a very volatile relationship to manage, and it's one of the most difficult roles for the team principal, whether it was Ron Dennis for Alain Prost and [Ayrton] Senna, Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet under Frank Williams, Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes.

"These are difficult situations which inevitably we will see boil over at McLaren, as with Lando and Oscar.

“We've seen little signs of it. One of those guys will be world champion this year, and it might be the only chance they get. Next year's McLaren might not be any good. It's a completely different sport next year [with the regulation changes]. It [will] still [be] called Formula 1, but this could be their one chance."

David Coulthard 'couldn't stand' Mika Hakkinen

Coulthard admitted that he “couldn’t stand” his own teammate Mika Hakkinen when they raced for McLaren in the late 1990s and the early 2000s.

While the Finn won back-to-back titles with the squad in 1998 and ‘99, Coulthard could only achieve a best championship finish of second behind Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher in 2001.

"[The] relationship is great,” he said. “The anger, frustration, feeling of hatred, which I always feel so guilty using the hate word, because it should normally be reserved for the most extreme people. But there were moments where I couldn't stand him - he was infuriating - and there were moments I know where he couldn't stand me.

"And that's what's so fascinating now, as grown-ups away from the sport, when we share and discuss and reminisce, to see how difficult he found me to work with because I'm just an absolute joy and turn up with chocolates and roses, and how difficult and frustrating I found him.

"But it was because we both had a need and a desire and an understanding that we needed to beat the other guy. And we needed to break the other guy if we could. And that, to many people who are not involved in sport, they may find [it] uncomfortable. But actually, it's about bringing the best out in yourself.

"And as much as I just spoke about Eddie [Jordan] as being someone that you could have love and frustration in equal measures, it's because he pushed boundaries, and he made you have to be on your A-game. And he made you have to be better. And Mika, as a team-mate, was exactly that.

"I can look Mika in the eye because we have been through a roller coaster of emotions together, and I know I've got nothing there. There's nothing more for me to try and hide from him. There's nothing more for him to try and hide from me. There's just respect."