Just hours before free practice at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku, it appears things are hotting up at the McLaren trailer. Insiders say the ongoing rivalry between the team’s star drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri is only growing stronger.
The rivalry has been brewing since Piastri joined the team for the 2023 season. Lando, who joined McLaren in 2019, was the team’s star driver. He had established himself as a future F1 contender, but in 2023, Oscar, a highly touted rookie, arrived with a lot of hype. The former Formula 2 champion replaced Daniel Ricciardo.
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While Norris welcomed his new teammate, it’s clear that Piastri’s arrival shook things up. The two have faced their challenges in the 2024 season, including a controversial place change at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Now F1 pundit and Drive to Survive commentator Will Buxton has weighed in on the pair’s collapsing bond ahead of Baku. Speaking on the latest episode of The Race F1 Podcast, he said: “I’ve heard whispers of it and chat within the paddock and within the team, some members saying that actually there is a belief starting to form at McLaren that Oscar’s ceiling is higher than Lando’s.
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“Oscar particularly over the last six, seven races and probably on balance this year, has been the more impressive driver of the two – I don’t think you can take that away from him given his experience.
“OK, we sometimes forget the age gap between the two of them is not very much, it’s just that Lando arrived in Formula 1 so young. Lando’s his [CEO Zak Brown’s] golden child and has been for over half a decade but there is a feeling starting to form at that team that potentially Oscar is the better of the two.”
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