Is Oscar Piastri Poised to Secure 1st F1 Victory Before Lando Norris?

No matter who they are, how long they’ve known each other, how they feel about each other, or how solid their relationship is off the track, two F1 drivers, especially teammates, can never be friends. Two teammates never get along, especially when fighting for a goal only one can achieve. We have seen this scenario time and again, and we might soon see it again in the McLaren garage as well. The Woking outfit is slowly yet surely building a race-winning machinery, and the question arises: who will take the first win for the team? The team’s main man and the hope for the future Lando Norris or the rookie sensation Oscar Piastri?

In this piece, we will express our opinion on the matter, which is not influenced by general perspectives and opinions. This piece will explore who has a higher chance of securing McLaren’s first win since 2021 and why.

Is Oscar Piastri pushing Lando Norris to the limit?

Before gracing the circus with his skills, Oscar Piastri was tearing it up in the feeder series. The Australian was the first driver to win the Formula Renault Eurocup, Formula 3, and Formula 2 championships in consecutive rookie seasons. This is precisely why Alpine had him on the team, and this is exactly why McLaren even upset an F1 veteran to make way for him. Despite the rocky start in the premier class, Piastri started showcasing his true talents behind a single-seater, thanks to the upgrades to the MCL60.

After the season’s conclusion, the head-to-head stats reveal a clear winner: Lando Norris. The Brit outqualified his rookie teammate 15-7 and got a better race result on 17 occasions compared to Piastri’s 5. However, we need to keep in mind that Piastri is racing in his rookie season, not to mention after a year on the sidelines.

Despite his year on the sidelines, Piastri more than held his own and raced his teammate and one of the most gifted drivers on the grid hard. However, we could not see the two battle it out on the track, thanks to team orders almost every step of the way in Norris’ favor. McLaren still favors Norris, as the Brit is technically the senior driver on the grid. Even so, we never heard a peep from Piastri even once, despite multiple instances of McLaren favoring Norris.

This brings us to one conclusion: despite Norris beating Piastri in most of the races and ending the season with a 108-point gap in the championship, there is a lot more to come from Piastri. The rookie not only secured McLaren’s only win in the season, albeit in the Sprint race in Qatar, but he was also marginally behind Norris in terms of lap timings, whether in qualifying or during a race.

Read More: “Hope He Hasn’t Learnt Anything From Me”: Lando Norris & Oscar Piastri Engage in Epic Banter Over Season Review

This scenario and how he’s tackling his rookie season by keeping his head down and taking notes leads us to believe we will see a different Piastri in the 2024 season. The rookie is already a winner in the premier class, and he can solidify his claim for a championship in the future with a race win ahead of his teammate in 2024.

Don’t get us wrong, Norris is extremely talented and possesses all the qualities of becoming a world champion, given the right car. However, he’s never been put in as much pressure as he is now in his career, and we can see it taking a toll. Let us explain.

Lando Norris’s self-criticism showcases how he is feeling the pressure from his rookie teammate

It was all fun and games until the MCL60 became the second-fastest car on the grid, and Norris started feeling the weight of expectations. Now, with no third-party excuses, it was all down to Norris’s quality on the track. He got the opportunity to prove he was a race winner on two occasions, and on both occasions, he slipped while trying to push too hard to prove a point.

The first was in Qatar, where the MCL60 was rapid, as proved by Oscar Piastri. Norris couldn’t put his stamp of approval after exceeding track limits during the final flying lap of Q3 and starting in 10th, where the expectations were of pole position. A similar scenario occurred during the last race of the season as well.

Norris admitted he threw away the pole position in the Abu Dhabi GP after sliding around turns 13 and 14. Speaking to Sky Sports F1, he said, “The car was very good out there. I was on a lap quick enough to go P1 but didn’t do it. Another Saturday that I’ve thrown away. Disappointed.”

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It’s the consistency that differentiates between an average race-winning F1 driver and a world champion. Norris has already showcased he has succumbed to the pressure twice. It will be interesting to see if he can get a grip on things in 2024 and hopefully disprove us.