“He’s Done a Better Job”: Lando Norris Bows to Oscar Piastri’s Supremacy as 2 Y.O. Deadlock Breaks at McLaren

The name McLaren is synonymous with victories. Bruce McLaren started the team with the vision of competing against big names like Ferrari. While McLaren has had their glory days, the last decade or so has been somewhat of a slump. Nonetheless, with the new McLaren MCL60 in the hands of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, the Papaya team seems to be getting back to winning ways. Amid this rejuvenation, Lando Norris bowed down to Oscar Piastri, who broke the 2-year-old deadlock.

Daniel Ricciardo was the last race winner for McLaren when he won the 2021 Italian Grand Prix. However, that win also was a one-off and not indicative of the struggles that the British team has had in the turbo hybrid era. Nonetheless, Oscar Piastri broke McLaren’s 2-year win drought by winning that Sprint race in Qatar. Lando Norris acknowledged what his teammate achieved at the Qatar GP by beating Max Verstappen and praised the Australian by bowing down to him.

During the post-race interview, Nico Rosberg asked Lando Norris whether he could win a race too if Oscar Piastri had done that in the same car. The German then asked Norris if he felt that a win was coming soon. Norris replied, “I mean, I hope so. I’ve been trying for a long time but Oscar has done a Mega job. He’s done a flawless weekend. I made a lot of mistakes and he hasn’t, he capitalized and he’s done a better job, so hats off to him.”

Read More: Max Verstappen Wins the 2023 World Championship & Creates History at the Qatar Sprint Race

And Lando Norris’ praise wasn’t just because Piastri won but also because of the way that he won. Let’s see what Oscar Piastri’s sprint looked like and how he beat the 3X World Champion Max Verstappen.

Oscar Piastri denied 3X World Champion Max Verstappen from sealing the title in style!

The Sprint race wasn’t at all straightforward as one expected it to be. While Piastri started on pole with Max Verstappen in P3, many expected the Dutchman to overtake both the McLarens to take the championship home by winning the race. Unfortunately for Max, that wasn’t the case. The soft tire runners got a jump on the medium tire runners including the McLarens and Verstappen at the start which was then followed by multiple safety cars.

Nonetheless, Piastri came through at the end after the softs fell off the pace for others and overtook Russell to take the lead back. However, Max Verstappen was lurking behind. With about 3 and a half laps to go, it was Piastri vs Verstappen for the win. Still, the Australian did not crack under the pressure, maintained his cool, and snatched the opportunity to take the championship home with a win away from Verstappen.

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One would hope if McLaren develops a good challenger for 2024, Oscar Piastri may be able to take on Verstappen. While that may be a huge what if, the kind of season the man from Melbourne has had, one never knows, what he could do in a race-winning car!