Photo Credits: McLaren Racing
McLaren team boss Andrea Stella is clearly satisfied by the performance of his driver Oscar Piastri seeing how he labelled the Australian’s F1 rookie season as ‘exceptional’.
Landon Norris previously said he was ‘one hundred percent’ certain that his maiden win in F1 will come in 2024. However, somebody who is probably equally confident of finding his way to the top step of the podium (should they have the machine to do so) is Norris’ teammate Oscar Piastri.
Having already tasted the winning feeling in F1 (albeit during the Qatar Sprint event) Piastri has shown enough form in the latter half of the season to make many think he will more than meet anything Norris produces on track in the year ahead.
Norris had a phenomenal season securing seven of McLaren’s nine podiums and scoring double the amount of points of Piastri. However, Norris also benefited from upgraded parts far sooner than his teammate and once the figurative playing field was somewhat equal, Piastri had podiums in Japan and Qatar to accompany his season highlight of a win from pole in Qatar’s sprint race.
Speaking after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, team boss of McLaren – Andrea Stella – heaped praise on Piastri after reflecting on his unforgettable rookie season.
“Our analysis is that Oscar’s season has just been exceptional, and when I say exceptional I mean beyond our expectations,” Stella stated.
The man steering the ship at McLaren explained how it is the rapid nature with which Piastri learns that makes him exceptional. The same opinion is stated whether analysing the timeframe of a race, within the timeframe of an event or within the timeframe of Piastri’s season.
“His gradient is so impressive, which obviously creates expectation for next season. And expectations require work to be confirmed. But the other good thing with Oscar is that he’s such a grounded person, he’s so committed,”
With a season under his belt and no longer the rookie tag on his name, McLaren are aware that the team’s mistakes of the previous winter break cannot be repeated if they are to fully benefit from the talent of Piastri. With David Sanchez from Ferrari and Rob Marshall from Red Bull joining the Woking-based manufacturer for 2024, the team clearly has all it needs to reach greater heights.
CEO of McLaren Racing. Zak Brown, told media in Abu Dhabi on the final weekend of the 2023 F1 season: “I would be disappointed if we’re not as competitive as we are now, I would be disappointed if we’re not at the sharp end of the field, challenging for race wins.”
Lando Norris would surely be disappointed to see his teammate find the top step of the podium in the pinnacle of motorsport before him. For that reason, the start of the 2024 F1 season could be crucial for Norris. This is because the more time Piastri gets in an F1 car, the more impressive he looks.
2023 may have been a low-key event in the early part of the season for the papaya-coloured car but 2024 seems set to be a whole different story. If so, maybe a different orange-coloured fanbase will have reason to be cheering in the months to come.
