Helmut Marko Publicly Bashed Oscar Piastri for Being “A Whole Second Slower” Than Lando Norris

“This is wrong and I have not signed a contract with Alpine for 2023. I will not be driving for Alpine next year,” tweeted Oscar Piastri after Fernando Alonso’s surprise move to Aston Martin. In fact, the Australian replaced his fellow countryman at McLaren. Many were enraged as to why Piastri was leaving the team that looked after him in the younger Formulas and didn’t understand the hype around the rookie. Now, Helmut Marko has come out to compare Piastri to Lando Norris.

The Australian driver showed exactly why he made the choice and impressed everyone in his rookie season last year, going toe to toe with Lando Norris. Piastri was on pace with Lando Norris over 1 lap and only struggled when it came to managing the tires. Regardless, he did extremely well in matching Norris in the upgraded McLaren. The most impressive rookie season since Lewis Hamilton’s.

However, this year, Lando Norris seems to have stepped up his performance a notch and is consistently beating Piastri, not only in race trim but also in qualifying. The most recent race in the Chinese GP showed exactly why Norris is regarded so highly, as the changes made to his McLaren after the Sprint turned the car’s fortune around, and Norris finished in P2, whereas Oscar Piastri could only manage P8, finishing 40+ seconds behind his teammate.

And Helmut Marko has now slammed the Australians for the same. According to speedweek.com, Helmut Marko said, “Another Shanghai rookie, Oscar Piastri, we see—the Australian was half to a whole second slower in the race than Lando Norris. So Shanghai is certainly a route on which experience counts, especially since the newcomers in the sprint format received even less driving time.” 

Marko highlighted how Piastri had never driven in China before because of the absence of the track from the calendar for 5 years, and this is where Norris made his experience count. Yet, both McLaren drivers are on the Red Bulls’ radar.

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are on Red Bull’s radar 

As of last year, Lando Norris was the hottest driver on the driver market, but Zak Brown had already sealed the deal with the Brit with a multi-year deal. That didn’t stop Red Bull from contacting Norris regarding a possible switch. Even Norris showed interest in moving to Red Bull and being Max Verstappen’s teammate. Oscar Piastri, on the other hand, has won many hearts as a rookie with his performances.

According to kleinezeitung.at, Helmut Marko said, “Norris has at least one contract until 2026, so he is not an option in the short term, nor is Oscar Piastri. But both drivers are certainly interesting for us in the future.” McLaren’s driver lineup is considered to be one of the strongest on the grid at the moment; however, if one of their drivers ends up moving to Red Bull, the Milton Keynes team will be unstoppable, not that they already aren’t.

What do you think about the gap between Norris and Piastri at the Chinese GP? McLaren suggests that Piastri’s car took some damage from the Ricciardo-Stroll incident. What’s your take?