Lando Norris Delivered McLaren Teammate Warning - 'Oscar Will Outscore Lando'

Saajan Jogia | Aug 10, 2024

Nov 17, 2023; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; McLaren F1 drivers Lando Norris (4) of Great Britain and Oscar Piastri (81) of Australia drive during practice 3 at the Las Vegas Strip Circuit. Mandatory Credit: Lucas Peltier-USA TODAY Sports / Lucas Peltier-USA TODAY Sports

Former Formula 1 driver Karun Chandhok is of the opinion that McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who secured his first Grand Prix win in Hungary recently, will soon outperform his teammate Lando Norris after the summer break, despite Lando displaying an upper edge over the Australian driver early in the season.

With McLaren having sorted out challenges on its MCL38 that bumped its performance to challenge Red Bull's Max Verstappen at the front, Chandhok feels Piastri has been understanding the nuances of Formula 1 rather quickly in his second year in Formula 1.

Barring a few mistakes on the track, the Australian driver seems to have been gaining an edge over Norris, who also scored his first F1 win in Miami this season. Though Norris is seen as an experienced driver who made his F1 debut with McLaren in 2019, the gap between him and Piastri, who was a rookie last year, has been narrowing fast.

In the Drivers' Standings, Norris holds the second position with 199 points, trailing championship leader Verstappen by 78 points. Piastri, two positions behind Norris and just behind Charles Leclerc, is 32 points adrift from his teammate. Chandhok anticipates that this gap between the two McLaren drivers will likely close further after the summer break.

Speaking on The Fast and the Curious podcast, as reported by GPBlog.com, he said:

"Budapest was a real standout moment again. Not because he won, but because the manner that he drove the first 40 laps of that race. Last year, Budapest, he was really struggling. He had terrible tyre wear. He just dropped off the cliff and was really struggling.

"I thought, 'okay, he's cracked it.' He's got his head around this Formula One thing. And I think that was a big, big day for him to lay down a marker that he is an equal to Lando."

He added:

"I think there will be races still on a Sunday where Lando will have a slight edge. I think in qualifying they are equal, actually. But I would probably say that in the second half of the year, I take a little punt and say that Oscar will outscore Lando."

During the first half of the Hungarian GP, Piastri led the race, but McLaren pitted Norris before him, allowing Norris to stay ahead toward the end. Despite initial hesitation, Norris ultimately complied with a team order to yield his position to Piastri.

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella revealed that if Norris had not followed the order, the team would have had to consider establishing a hierarchy between the drivers—a structure that currently does not exist but may be introduced in the later part of the season. He told the media:

"When you have Oscar and Lando, we are in the lucky position that we don't really need to decide who is a number one driver.

"It is a way of simplifying things for some people like myself but a way to frustrate the ambition of the entire team and the way we go racing. 

"It is deep in our ethos that we race fair and if one of the drivers gains a result on merit, it is protected.

"Maybe if it is the last couple of races and there is a strong championship-interest for one of the two drivers, we may revise this."