Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, and how McLaren’s impressive 2024 F1 season has left us wanting more

“It doesn’t mean anything to me. He’s in a car which should win every race basically, he’s doing the job he has to do.”

These were Lando Norris’ words on Lewis Hamilton after he broke Michael Schumacher’s record for the most career wins in Formula 1 history at the 2020 Portuguese Grand Prix.

At the time, Norris was a young promising driver in just his second year in the sport. Fast-forward four years and that promise has turned into pressure, and the Brit has now realised that consistently winning in Formula 1 is no easy feat even with the fastest car.

Norris lost a further two points in the championship to Max Verstappen at the Belgian Grand Prix, despite starting in P4 and the Dutchman starting in P11 due to an engine penalty

Formula 1 has now entered the mid-season summer break and unsurprisingly, Max Verstappen sits top of the drivers’ standings on 277 points. Red Bull also sit top of the constructors’ standings with 408 points despite the struggles of their second driver Sergio Pérez, whose 131 points currently have him just seventh in the drivers’ standings.

Red Bull’s closest challengers in 2024 have been McLaren, who head into the summer break second in the constructors’ championship, just 43 points off the top spot. With a maximum of 59 points available at the Sprint weekends in Austin, São Paulo and Qatar, and 44 points available at the other seven remaining Grand Prix weekends, the Woking outfit is clearly in striking distance of their rivals in Milton Keynes.

McLaren has been on an unprecedented turnaround since Andrea Stella took over as team principal in January 2023

F1 Journalist and Audience Editor at PlanetF1 Sam Cooper spoke on the 2024 constructors’ battle:

“The fact that we’re even talking about this battle is impressive because P3 would’ve been a good result for McLaren in the constructors’ this season, so I think it’s surprised them how quickly they’ve come into contention.

“Sergio Pérez has been a big factor in that Red Bull has only really had one driver scoring whereas McLaren has two strong drivers who are both scoring, which has helped them be in the fight for the constructors. I’d still put Red Bull as the favourites for now but McLaren will come very close. I just think with how good Max is Red Bull will just hang on to it.”

The turning point for McLaren in 2024 was in Miami where Norris took his maiden Grand Prix victory.

Norris’ long-awaited first Formula 1 victory came on his 110th Grand Prix start

Ever since Miami, the MCL38 has proved to be the strongest package on the grid. Highspeed, low-speed, wet, dry, changing conditions – the MCL38 has been competitive in any track configuration and every condition. Despite this, from Miami onwards Red Bull have taken three victories to McLaren’s two, and Verstappen has outscored Norris by 25 points.

This can be attributed to McLaren and Norris being inexperienced compared to Red Bull under Zak Brown and Andrea Stella’s leadership, and still learning how to challenge at the front of the grid. However, there have been several race weekends where McLaren have made critical errors that have cost them wins, and inexperience can’t quell the disappointment of a missed chance at victory in Formula 1.

Failing to pit under the safety car in Canada. Norris’ poor start in Spain. The controversies of Austria which although unfortunate, did expose faults within Norris’ race craft. The strategy blunders of Silverstone. Even after their most dominant performance of the season in Hungary, McLaren still left us questioning their strategy when we should have been praising their dominant 1-2 and Piastri’s maiden Grand Prix victory.

Piastri’s first Formula 1 victory came on just his 35th Grand Prix start, on the current grid only Hamilton (6), Verstappen (24), Fernando Alonso (30) and Charles Leclerc (34) claimed their first victories quicker

Admittedly the margins at the sharp end of Formula 1 in 2024 have been minimal. In qualifying two two-tenths could lose you five positions. In the race, a poor start, pitstop or strategy could cost you a podium or even victory, meaning every small mistake McLaren and Norris have made has had big consequences.

We do have to lament the progress that’s been made by McLaren since the beginning of last year. To go from being the slowest car at the start of 2023 to being in championship contention just over a year later embodies the vision Formula 1 had to even the playing field under these new technical regulations.

However, McLaren will want to capitalise now and reap the highest rewards from their 2024 challenger, especially considering the technical regulations will be reset again in 2026.

“Any chat about 2026 now is centring around engines, and McLaren are in this weird situation where they’re one of the top teams but they don’t make their own engines,” says Cooper.

McLaren currently run Mercedes power units and will continue to do so until the end of the 2030 Formula 1 season

Cooper continues, “Obviously they’ll make their own chassis but they’re relying on Mercedes [their engine supplier] to do their job. So, you’ve got to capitalise when your car is strong because we’ve seen in Formula 1 that it doesn’t last.

“We all thought Red Bull would win the championship by a landslide this year and they’re not. Regulations come and go and it’s very hard to stay on top. You need to strike while the irons hot and if they [McLaren] don’t win it this year, I think they should be aiming to win it next year because we don’t know what’s going to happen in 2026.”

History shows that one team normally nail the new set of technical regulations, and the rest of the field are left playing catch-up. We saw it with Hamilton and Mercedes and with Red Bull under Sebastian Vettel and most recently Verstappen. The last 18 months have been transformative for McLaren, but the next 18 months will be even more critical as they seek their first constructors’ title since the turn of the century.

McLaren last won the constructors’ championship in 1998 with their MP4/13, driven by Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard

They will need to become more decisive and less diplomatic from the pit wall, not every strategy call can be made by committee with drivers travelling at 200 mph. This indecision led to Norris being undercut by Verstappen and George Russell during the safety car in Montreal.

In Silverstone, it left Piastri tiptoeing around a wet track on slicks and left Norris’ fresh mediums in tyre blankets. It caused them to box Norris before Piastri in Hungary when Piastri should have been given priority as the race leader. If this trend continues, it could cost them the constructors’ championship.

The last 14 constructors’ championships have been won by Red Bull and Mercedes, with Red Bull claiming six titles either side of Mercedes’ record eight-straight from 2014 to 2021

The drivers’ championship is a more complex proposition for McLaren. Piastri’s ascendancy in 2024 has ignited an interesting dilemma for them – if they were to challenge for the drivers’ title would Norris or Piastri be the more suitable protagonist?

“If you had to ask me which I think would be World Champion in the future it would be Oscar [Piastri]. I think he’s got all the right elements and he’s got such a cool head on his shoulders. He’s a complete mentality monster whereas Lando’s a lot more open with his emotions.

“I think Lando is good enough to win a world title provided things go his way, but you must be perfect to consistently win in Formula 1. It’s an advantage when the car’s good but you’ve got to get everything right especially when you have a good teammate in the same car,” says Cooper.

Just 32 points separates Norris and Piastri in the drivers’ standings

Cooper continues, “If it was clear that Lando was the quicker McLaren driver then you would probably favour him, but Oscars been on par fair and square so McLaren don’t want to ruin their relationship with him by favouring Lando when there’s no need to.

“It would be an unwise move to favour a driver when you’ve got two very good drivers. Look at Mercedes and Ferrari, they rarely favour one driver over the other.”

Outside of Piastri’s tyre management which Hungary showed he’s made massive strides on, he has no real deficiencies in his driving compared to Norris. He has the speed, the temperament and currently has the confidence over his more experienced teammate.

Norris on the other hand has some glaring deficiencies which need to be rectified if he’s to keep Verstappen honest and beat his teammate in the drivers’ championship – with the obvious one being his starts.

Pole quickly turned into third for Norris (C) after a poor start at the Spanish Grand Prix

All three times Norris has started on pole in 2024, he’s lost the lead after turn one. He’s the only driver on the grid not to make up a single position on the opening lap this season. Add to that, he’s lost 26 places on the opening lap in 2024 – the most of any driver on the grid.

“It’s been Lando’s best season in Formula 1 so far, but he does have an obvious flaw in that his starts are so bad. He’s made so many bad starts now and we saw one again in Spa [Belgium] which meant he was stuck in traffic and couldn’t go anywhere,” Cooper explains.

Norris lost three positions on the opening lap of the Belgian Grand Prix after running wide onto the gravel at turn one

Cooper continues, “As well as starts, I think his mentality is another thing. He’s incredibly harsh on himself, very much the opposite of Max in that sense. Max will always believe he’s right in everything while Lando will always be doubting himself all the time.

“I also think he’s feeling the pressure from Oscar a little bit more because Oscars proved himself to be a great up-and-coming driver in just his second season.

“Lando’s still had a very good season, but he probably should’ve had more than just one win by now but those small flaws I’ve mentioned above have cost him.”

Norris has been outscored 126 – 116 by Piastri ever since the MCL38 became a race-winning package in Miami, and he’s also been overtaken by his teammate into turn one at the last two races in Spa and Hungary.

After starting on pole at the Hungarian Grand Prix, Norris (C) lost the lead to Piastri (L) at turn one who went on to claim his maiden victory

Norris’ real threat now is Piastri, because the reality is no one genuinely expects him to beat Verstappen to the drivers’ championship this year, but he is very much expected to beat his less experienced teammate. In Formula 1, any title discussions are irrelevant if you don’t beat the driver on the opposite side of the garage.

McLaren could win the constructors’ championship this year, but history only really remembers the drivers’ champions. The 2008 season is remembered for Hamilton’s maiden World Championship rather than Ferrari’s constructors’ title, just as 2021 is remembered for Verstappen’s maiden title rather than Mercedes’ constructors’ triumph.

McLaren will need to figure out how they navigate this Norris-Piastri conundrum because when the time arrives only one can be World Champion.