Norris Must Be 'Mortally Wounded' Piastri Won Earlier Than Him Says Brundle

Wednesday, 13 December 2023 at 15:00

Updated at Tuesday, 02 January 2024 at 20:30

Former Formula One Driver and current Sky Sports F1 expert co-commentator Martin Brundle discussed the dynamics inside the McLaren team.

Lando Norris outperformed his previous teammate, Daniel Ricciardo, so much that McLaren felt Ricciardo was not doing a good enough job and had to be replaced by a new driver.

The new driver became the Australian rookie Oscar Piastri, and he had a magical first season. In 2023, he achieved two Grand Prix podiums, two Sprint podiums, and one Sprint Race Win in Qatar.

Sky F1’s end-of-season review, Martin Brundle noted Piastri's sprint race win at Lusail International Circuit, where not even Max Verstappen could catch him:

"Let’s remember that Oscar Piastri won the sprint race in Qatar in great style with Max [Verstappen] trying to catch him."

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McLaren's CEO Zak Brown lately addressed all the latest technology equipment his team will get in 2024 but mentioned he would expect to see the effect of all the changes as early as 2025. Brundle agrees with him:

"Their [McLarens] new windtunnel I don’t think will really pay a lot of dividends until 2025, but if they put everything else together well…"

The Sky Sports F1 expert remembered the 2021 season during which Norris achieved four podiums and came extremely close to achieving his first F1 win but just didn't get it.

"And remember even a couple of years back there was a sequence of three races were Lando could have won all three of them."

The 24-year-old outperformed his teammate Piastri by 108 points, clearly demonstrating better consistency and race pace, but the Australian was still the one to get his first win sooner than Norris, and Brundle thinks he has to be mortified.