A rookie in Formula 1 always has an uphill battle to face. However, despite being posed with such a challenge, Oscar Piastri seems to be coping with the pressure brilliantly. What’s even more impressive about his rookie season in F1 is that he’s almost always toe-to-toe with his much experienced and pacey teammate, Lando Norris. Naturally, the close proximity between the two in terms of lap times has meant that they’ve been fighting for the same piece of tarmac, more often than not. And when they have, the gloves have come off. However, these stand-offs have been the accidental doings of McLaren themselves, according to Andrea Stella’s admission to Autosport.
Throughout the 2023 season, both Norris and Piastri have been fighting for supremacy within McLaren. While Norris has been setting the benchmark at Woking, the young Australian has been pretty much hitting the targets. And it all has culminated with Piastri one-upping Norris as he clinched his first victory in Formula 1 during today’s Qatar GP Sprint race.
While Norris would appreciate having a teammate who is able to push him and extract the maximum from himself and the team, being beaten or even challenged by a teammate isn’t a welcome fact in the F1 paddock. The 23-year-old Brit would be itching to put Piastri in his place. However, on the face of it, the duo seem to have a cordial relationship, at least as things stand.
Andrea Stella blames McLaren for ugly Lando Norris x Oscar Piastri battles
As a team, you never want to see your two cars come together. It’s a recipe for disaster. However, with Piastri and Norris, the team has witnessed a few tense-on-track moments. The Italian and Japanese Grand Prix are prime examples. But McLaren team principal Andrea Stella, blames the team. He explained, “It [Japan] was much, much easier in a way, as those two situations were stressful, especially the one in Monza. And when I say stressful, I mean stressful because we created stress between our two drivers.”
It was really touch and go at the Japanese Grand Prix last time around. At one stage, they even came to blows. Luckily, once the duo survived that wheel-to-wheel excursion, the team swapped them around. This is exactly why Stella believes that in the future, the team can secure the maximum out of a race weekend if they can avoid such bust-ups.
He continued, “That’s something that we reviewed. It may happen again in the future, but when it is avoidable, we should avoid it. We asked the drivers to swap so that we wouldn’t lose race time for both.”
Despite civil war, McLaren ready to take the fight to Red Bull
It’s only a testament to the quality in their ranks that McLaren has two supremely talented drivers wanting each other’s heads during a race weekend. Even if Piastri wants to make the MCL60 his own, Norris has been putting stellar performances in this year. With the Sprint Race today, the British racing ace has now bagged five podiums this season.
On the other hand, Piastri has been showcasing that he is the star of today. With the performances he’s put in so far in 2023, it’s been argued that it’s only a matter of time before we see an Australian be crowned champion after Alan Jones’ championship triumph all the way back in 1980.
That doesn’t seem to be far, though. McLaren has been on a meteoric streak since the British GP. Their upgrades have worked, and the gap is closing by the day to Red Bull. Surely, the Papaya team is ready to challenge the Bulls in 2024.
