McLaren is very much into the fight with Red Bull for the constructors’ championship. While Lando Norris has been leading the charge for the team, Oscar Piastri has also been impressive this season. However, the Aussie has been nowhere in terms of contention of stealing wins away from Max Verstappen. That he believes is an advantage going into the future races as he aims to take the battle to the Dutchman.
“I have not come across Verstappen on the track very often, because he is so dominant. I know he fights hard, but I will not avoid that. I want to beat everyone. Max knows very little about me and that can be an advantage”, said Piastri according to Formule1.nl.
‘Both our drivers could have won’ – Brown says McLaren ‘got it wrong’ after Norris and Piastri miss out at Silverstone https://t.co/jWlUWXIsg5 McLaren CEO Zak Brown believes Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri could have won the British Grand Prix. He admits … https://t.co/jWlUWXIsg5
— DAVID NORFORD (@DavidNorford) July 8, 2024
Not having raced that often on track, it is difficult for Verstappen to predict what move Piastri might make. Those who’ve raced Ricciardo know that he sends it down the inside and apparently Norris does the same now. Alonso always prioritizes better exits and compromises entry when defending. In Piastri’s case, there is no previous reference for the Aussie in Verstappen’s mind.
Explaining his gap to Norris in terms of performance, Piastri highlighted that setbacks are required to get better. He stated that it takes time since he’s racing with some of the best and most experienced drivers. Although Norris is only a year older than Piastri, the Briton already has five years of experience under his belt.
The #81 driver went on to explain how McLaren has made up loads of performance in the slow-speed corners which is an area of concern for Red Bull. Apparently, Piastri predicted this step forward before the season started.
Piastri’s prediction for the McLaren 2024 season is on track
McLaren finished the 2023 season as the second-best team, but still quite a way far from Red Bull’s pace. The 2024 season started exactly how 2023 ended with the RB20 dominating. However, the Woking team caught up with the first set of upgrades and eventually overtook Red Bull in terms of performance.
This is exactly what Piastri hoped for at the start of the reason. In BBC’s YouTube video, Piastri said, “Hopefully we can start the season where we finished off last year. We don’t want to be 2nd or 3rd best. We want to become the best and take the fight to the top teams, especially Red Bull.”
The Aussie went on to explain how with the first few upgrades he would like to close the gap to Red Bull. Eventually, throughout the season, he expected the team to bring more upgrades putting them in a position to win the championship.
Now, that is how their season is panning out as McLaren’s development curve has been very steep towards the positive side. If the trend continues, Red Bull could face a steep challenge for the constructors’ title, with a nail-biting battle on hand .
