McLaren 'Not Getting Best' Out Of Norris With Piastri As His Teammate Windsor Suggests

Tuesday, 09 January 2024 at 03:00

F1 analyst Peter Windsor said he doesn't think McLaren's move to pair up Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will work to get the best out of the 24-year-old.

The triple World Champion Max Verstappen was recently asked which drivers he would like to have on his team if he was a team principal, and he chose Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

The Dutchman chose the exact driver pairing that McLaren has at the moment. The CEO of the British team, Zak Brown, stated he believes to have the strongest driver pairing on the grid at the moment.

However, there might be some downsides to having a very talented and strong young driver alongside Lando Norris. Peter Windsor said on his YouTube channel:

"I’ve said all year long that having somebody as good as Oscar in that car, we’re going to see a lot more from him obviously as the McLaren gets better and better, and it’s a good car now."

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Windsor believes that the better the Australian driver gets, the more it will affect Norris, and not in a positive way. He continued:

"The better Oscar is getting, on any given weekend, the more it affects Lando Norris, as I’ve been saying ever since Oscar Piastri signed to drive for McLaren."

It is true that we have seen quite a few mistakes from the 24-year-old in 2023 which might be consequence of being under pressure. On the other hand, Norris also had some of his best races in F1 during the most recent season.

Martin Brundle from Sky Sports backs the opposing view compared to Windsor. The former F1 driver suggested Piastri as a teammate, which is exactly what Norris needed to improve his performance.

Nevertheless, Windsor still believes having two strong drivers in McLaren is the right move for the British team if they want to maximize Norris's potential. He added:

"It’s not going to get the best from Lando Norris, this isn’t what he needs in the other car. And I’m sure McLaren don’t even think about that, because they think, ‘Wow, we’ve got two great racing drivers, Lando is our guy and Oscar is our guy’, but they’re not getting the best from Lando Norris with Oscar there for sure."