Oscar Piastri Drags McLaren Down From Cloud 9 as Lando Norris’ Recovery Hides Crippling Weakness

The Mexican GP was a weekend of two halves for Lando Norris. Saturday was a day to forget, but Sunday was one he’ll never forget. It’s one that McLaren won’t forget. The weekend in Mexico for Norris was like a mini version of McLaren’s season. It started in the worst way possible—with Norris among the backmarkers—and it ended with the 23-year-old up there with the front-runners. As rollercoaster-ish as Norris’ Mexican GP was, for Oscar Piastri, it was just so. Wasn’t too bad, and wasn’t too good. But as McLaren reveled in the positives of Norris’ charge, Piastri gave his team a reality check.

Piastri has taken to Formula 1 like a duck to water. In the 19 races he’s driven for McLaren, he’s understood the car better than most could imagine. While that comes with the perks of maximizing the car’s performance, it also allows him to scope out weaknesses. Despite the promising signs from Mexico, Piastri revealed a striking shortcoming.

McLaren’s upgrades haven’t fooled Oscar Piastri

After McLaren introduced its upgrade overhaul, it was like a flip had switched. In just one race, McLaren went from scrapping at the back to competing at the front of the field. From the outside, it looks like a miracle. From the inside, again, it’s a miracle, but it’s not one without weaknesses. If there’s one quality of Piastri’s that’s stood out this season, it’s his inclination to constantly learn and improve. That’s precisely why he gave McLaren the reality check it needed.

Here’s how Norris’ Mexican GP went: He qualified in P19 and started the race in P17. Before the Red Flag came out midway through the race, he was up in P8 and he pitted for fresh tires. The Red Flag came out and he dropped to P10. At the restart, he dropped to P14, but in the remained of the race, he recovered to P5. In comparison, here’s how Piastri’s weekend was: He qualified in P7 and stayed there almost throughout the race. When a speedy Norris was right behind him, Piastri was asked to let him through. Following that, he made contact with Yuki Tsunoda, lost a little aerodynamic performance, and finished in P8.

In terms of team result, a P5 and a P8 isn’t bad at all. But just because Norris seemed like he had good pace didn’t mean McLaren had good pace in general. Piastri explained, “I think with the pace we have in our car now, I don’t really think it’s that much to brag about. So still always looking for more. We just struggled a bit in certain parts and made life much, much more difficult. I think the pace with the cars around was similar. Lando was just very, very strong in the last stint and was able to carve through.”

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Although Piastri may have brought the spirits down a little, it was necessary to keep McLaren on track to improve. While he brought McLaren down, Norris dragged himself down.

Lando Norris wasn’t too happy about his Mexican GP

When Norris crossed the line in P5 after a mega drive, his race engineer told him it was one of the best performances he’d seen. Considering the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez isn’t a venue where overtaking is easy, that made Norris’ charge all the more impressive. Former F1 driver Martin Brundle even said, “This has to be one of Lando’s best drives of his career.”

Be that as it may, Norris couldn’t get past the fact that he messed up in qualifying. Had he qualified higher, a podium would’ve been in the cards. In an interview with Motorsport, he reflected on the ‘what could’ve been.’ “I know people complain about why I’m so disappointed at times. And it’s because of days like today. Of course, I’m going to be disappointed, right?” he said. “There’s a chance to finish on the podium and get another trophy, score more points. Why would I ever be happy about a day like Saturday?”

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Do you think McLaren’s pace is something it needs to worry about, as Oscar Piastri said?