McLaren Boss Leaves Lando Norris’ Jaw on the Floor While Oscar Piastri Copes With Wicked Jab at Rival Team’s Situation

McLaren Boss Leaves Lando Norris’ Jaw on the Floor While Oscar Piastri Copes With Wicked Jab at Rival Team’s Situation

With teams bringing in consistent upgrades to their cars, Aston Martin’s bright start to the season soon faded away, as McLaren burst into the season. The Woking-based team is gaining ground in the constructors’ championship standings, and could soon jump Ferrari, and potentially Aston Martin. Keeping his team’s recent performances in mind, McLaren CEO Zak Brown took a cheeky dig at his rivals while appearing in an interview with Virgin Radio UK alongside his team drivers.

When the season began, Aston Martin emerged as the biggest surprise package. The team found itself on the podium race after race and established itself as the second-fastest team on the grid. Things quickly changed at the Austrian GP when McLaren brought their newest upgrades, and Aston Martin started showing signs of weakness.

Taking both of their performances in the races leading up to the summer break into account, it seems McLaren has now become the Aston Martin of the season, claims ESPN, with both their drivers delivering on the team’s expectations.

Zak Brown takes a subtle dig at the Aston Martin drivers

In a trivial section of the interview, the trio played a game of Lando Norris v Oscar Piastri v Zak Brown. The game aimed to pitch a question to the drivers, and the better answer would then face Brown’s answers to announce the ultimate winner. One of the questions was what all three of them were good at, apart from the sport they were involved in.

51-year-old Brown surprised the panel by revealing he was a switch-hit batter in baseball. Brown’s answers were winning every round, which led to him taking a subtle but brutal dig at the drivers over at Aston Martin. Once he won the second round, Brown said-

“Dominating. This is like Alonso and Stroll.”

By saying this, Brown referred to how only Alonso has guided Aston Martin to podium finishes so far, with Stroll not being able to replicate his teammate’s success. This may be suggestive of a driver hierarchy over at Aston Martin.

Meanwhile, the drivers over at McLaren have had a better share of contribution to their team’s performance this season. Despite this being Piastri‘s rookie season, both drivers have shared a good rapport and have shown immense support for one another during what was a challenging start to the campaign for them.

Alonso addressed the disparity between him and Lance Stroll

The Aston Martin driver lineup has always generated a lot of buzz. On one hand, they have a 42-year-old Fernando Alonso, who is consistently performing at the highest level, and on the other hand, they have the boss’s son Lance Stroll, who is failing to match the two-time world champion. The Spanish veteran understands the difference between both drivers and has forced his team to break the norms of F1.

 

Team boss Mike Krack has been active in defending the Canadian driver’s performances against his Alonso’s. Krack said when Alonso was doing well, it was because their car was in top form, and Stroll had come back from an injury. Refusing to criticize Stroll’s performances, Krack understands it’s not easy for the youngster to be partnered up with a legendary driver like Fernando Alonso.

Post Edited By: Somin Bhattacharjee

About the author

Avatar photo

Naman Gopal Srivastava

Naman is an F1 writer at The SportsRush. Initially a football fanatic who worships Puyol and Leo Messi, Naman soon fell in love with the world of F1 upon reading about Jim Clarke. While the current era drivers do fascinate him, Naman still chooses to idolize Clarke and Ayrton Senna. When he is not busy watching the highlights of some of the greatest races of his idols, Naman can be found scribbling little snippets in his diary of poems or out in the town, exploring new places to eat.