After an underwhelming start to the season, Oscar Piastri has finally started giving his teammate Lando Norris a run for his money. Helmut Marko is not surprised by this and hails the Aussie as the better McLaren driver, and not just for his skills on the track.
Piastri is 32 points behind Norris in the Drivers’ Championship standings. While this gap isn’t very huge, it was comprehensively bigger in the initial part of this season, especially after Norris won his maiden Grand Prix in Miami.
Marko tells Sky Germany, “I don’t know what the points difference is between the two McLaren drivers. But it seems that Piastri is mentally the stronger one.”
Helmut Marko: “I don’t know what the points difference is between the two McLaren drivers, but it seems that Piastri is mentally the stronger one. Oscar has gradually closed the gap to Lando and is sometimes even faster.”
[https://t.co/Jzq1oVymp8] pic.twitter.com/2nsAqagP2i
— RBR Daily (@RBR_Daily) July 29, 2024
The Austrian also points out that Piastri has been faster than Norris over the last few races. The British driver, despite starting the race from good positions has been having poor starts, which hands Piastri an advantage in the intra-team battle. It is also why Norris couldn’t win the Hungarian GP.
So far, there has been no friction between Piastri and Norris. But, if the Aussie driver continues to get better, and challenges Norris at the front regularly, McLaren could have a tough time managing their drivers, especially considering the Woking-based squad has a bigger goal in mind.
McLaren’s dilemma for the rest of 2024
In Hungary, many F1 experts including Nico Rosberg criticized McLaren for the way they handled Norris and Piastri’s strategy debacle. Rosberg told team principal Andrea Stella that the team was not assertive enough with its orders, which created a lot of confusion.
To avoid the same, McLaren has to make sure the whole team is on the same page before the final 10 races kick off after the summer break.
First Grand Prix Win. Incredible pic.twitter.com/0DUeySy2VB
— Oscar Piastri (@OscarPiastri) July 21, 2024
McLaren is in a great position to win the Constructors’ title, because of which Norris and Piastri have to work together. At the same time, the situation is delicate because Norris, with McLaren – arguably the fastest car currently – could also prioritize his Drivers’ Championship goals.
Time will tell whether McLaren helps the Briton realize his dreams, or focuses on the team’s success. Piastri too, could come in with a title charge of his own.
