“Let’s Call It a New Car”: After McLaren’s Brutal Snub, Lando Norris Rubs Salt in Oscar Piastri’s Wounds Following the Mega Qualifying in Austria

The Red Bull, the Ferrari, the Mercedes, and the Aston Martin, with a little shuffling, seemed to be the natural order. However, McLaren has pulled a rabbit out of the hat. The Woking outfit, after making bold claims leading up to the Austrian GP, has delivered the final product, and boy does it work. The first of the three-part upgrade has already put Lando Norris in the third row for the race on Sunday. In fact, according to the Brit, the car feels absolutely new. A positive outlook and a delightful start to the weekend for Norris in Austria. However, on the other side of the McLaren garage, there is still misery.

As we all know, Oscar Piastri could only manage to qualify 13th for the race on Sunday. This stark contrast in the qualifying result is not performance-based. This gap between Norris and Piastri is preference based. As in, Norris got the preference and got the upgrades in Austria. Whereas Piastri is still on the old setup and will get the upgrades on his car in Silverstone. So seeing his teammate perform as expected and then boast about the setup speaking to Sky Sports will definitely sting a little.

“I’m super happy, the guys have done a good job to get all the bits here and it’s paid off straightaway,” said Norris. “A very good day from from start to finish. We had a few issues this morning, which meant we were even more limited on running. To get, let’s call it a new car, working as it should.”

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The fans don’t need to cheer Piastri up now though, the Australian knows what he is in for come the British GP. However, could the upgrades perform differently for Norris and Piastri? That would’ve been a concern if their driving styles were different, but as it turns out, the two share a brain.

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri’s uncanny feedback make for an interestingly unique scenario

One problem every team faces over the course of a season is the car’s setup, which changes according to a driver’s preference. The team has to make a decision at this junction where they choose which driver’s style they need to match to maximize their chances of winning. However, at McLaren, if the three upgrades can put them in a strong position, they will not face this problem. How? Well, according to TP Andrea Stella, Norris, and Piastri share a brain and the two often showcase that with their post runs feedback.

Stella revealed, “In terms of working together, there’s an interesting aspect we have noticed that Oscar and Lando tend to provide very similar feedback. Not only like offline in debriefings. But even when you do free practice 1, first run, the car comes back you hear the driver talking in the radio and sometimes they just use the same words. So for us, as a team, it is very useful.”

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This is an extremely beneficial scenario for the Woking outfit because of which they can streamline the upgrades. This way, both drivers’ feedback toward the common goal becomes more focused. Perhaps these upgrades are a result of that, and if Norris is finding pace with these upgrades, so should Piastri!