McLaren has a blockbuster F1 driver line-up in its stable – but the Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri partnership could be heading towards disaster.
McLaren’s meteoric rise to the forefront of F1 has come at a great time for the sport.
Red Bull and Max Verstappen’s dominance in 2023 can be commended for the unrivalled level of consistent performances that were on display – but few get their kicks out of F1 by watching the same driver win week in, week out.
The ongoing campaign has presented a much different picture with McLaren and Mercedes shooting to the forefront of the grid.
McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have both become grand prix winners this season as they pursue the Woking-based squad’s first title since 2008.
But as they spearhead McLaren’s journey back to winning ways, there is the ever-present danger of the situation boiling over.
McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown recently asserted confidence in its line-up by highlighting it has two ‘number one’ drivers in the McLaren F1 Driver Line-up.
The talent that the pair possess is too obvious to leave one of them relegated to a ‘number two’ status and doing so early on in their careers would be detrimental to the intra-team trust.
McLaren is unique in that it is nurturing its own talent from the ground up, having signed Norris as a junior driver before bringing him into F1 as a rookie in 2019 and Piastri for his first F1 season last year.
Committing to Piastri was a risk for McLaren – not because of there being questions over what the Australian would bring to the table, but how he would gel with Norris as he looked to continue the impressive displays during his junior career.
Norris has undoubtedly had the upper hand on Piastri over the last 18 months, but the latter is slowly finding his feet – his growth from season one to season two is blatantly obvious and he is now consistently keeping Norris on his toes.
As Piastri continues to grow, it could present McLaren with a major problem if it is fighting at the front of the field.
The Hungarian Grand Prix team order shootout, created by a strange McLaren strategy call, was resolved with level-headedness from Norris.
With such a big gap to Verstappen in the drivers’ championship, it somewhat dented the pain from Norris’ side – but would he have been such a team player with a title on the line?
It’s a headache that McLaren is currently heading towards by coupling a very strong car with a blockbuster line-up.
Brown asserted that both drivers “race for the team” – but an F1 driver will stop at nothing to achieve a title if the opportunity exists. In a high-intensity moment, a team-mate is simply any other on-track obstacle that must be dealt with.
McLaren is currently riding a strong wave of form and is enjoying the journey it is on as it fashions itself into a contender.
But soon that journey of recovery must end and it will declare itself a consistent front-runner against the veteran winning set-ups of Red Bull and Mercedes.
When it does, can Norris and Piastri be trusted to race with their heads rather than their hearts?
Both drivers are locked in place at McLaren for the next handful of years and the team can pat itself on the back for managing to form such a formidable line-up.
However, successfully navigating any intra-team rivalry that now seems likely to appear would be an even greater achievement.
