The recently concluded 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix saw McLaren duo Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri fight it all out. Even though they weren’t directly in a fight with each other, the drive between the two sparked a rise of an upcoming war. As the ego war rises between veteran Norris and rookie Piastri, things are quite serious in the Woking garage.
Being a rookie, Piastri finished the race ahead of his veteran teammate. He crossed the chequered flag in P15, and while he went up on the pack, he overtook his teammate. But, according to Norris, he allowed his rookie teammate to have the move.
As per Next Gen Auto, he said he let his teammate pass through. He further stated that had this been a fight for points, things would have been different. Norris finished the race in P17 behind Williams’ Logan Sargeant.
The 23-year-old went on to say that he could have kept his position. But he let his teammate through because the rookie didn’t make things difficult for him. He let the man from Land Down Under take a chance, which he did, and that was fine.
Norris blames Piastri for his terrible outing
The start of the 2023 F1 season has been disastrous for Norris. The Briton had never had such a dismal start to his season ever before. With two back-to-back races, he finished way low and went home without points.
However, if the first race is to be blamed on the team, the 23-year-old blames his teammate for the second race. The British driver said that it was Piastri’s front wing that ruined the race for him.
It was always going to be a tough race after damage to both cars early on. We’ll debrief and go again in Melbourne.#SaudiArabianGP 🇸🇦 pic.twitter.com/Dph0DgdmeJ
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) March 19, 2023
He said the front wing damage ruined everything. Calling it unlucky, he further asserted that a piece from the other McLaren destroyed his front wing. This led him to the pit and hence made him lose the chance to salvage a point.
The Australian was unsure if his debris ruined his teammate’s race
The Australian driver has revealed that he isn’t sure if a part of his car damaged Lando Norris’s front wing and jeopardized his race. The driver, who could well be a threat to Norris, said that he wasn’t 100 percent sure if this was the case as he hadn’t seen the footage while he was talking to the media.
McLaren occupies the last position in the constructors’ championship behind AlphaTauri. This is surely one of the worst starts to the Woking-based team’s F1 season.
