Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen have been the stars of the 2023 Formula 1 season so far. While Max Verstappen has gone on to dominate and win the Championship this season, Oscar Piastri has been able to accomplish something that not a lot of drivers have.
Oscar Piastri started the season as one of those drivers just fighting to score points. However, in the second half of the season, McLaren was able to provide him with a more capable car. Since the Austrian Grand Prix, the McLaren cars have been showing some incredible pace. This has allowed Oscar PIastri to achieve his first podium finish in Japan. In the next race, he was able to win his first Formula 1 race. Although it was not the main race, it still counts.
Eddie Jordan believes it’s #McLaren and Oscar Piastri who’ll be the biggest threat to Max Verstappen during the 2024 season 👀
“McLaren at the moment and Oscar Piastri is just fabulous and he is the only real one that I can see emerging…”#F1 #Formula1 #QatarGP pic.twitter.com/YaQF2IINo4
— McLaren F1 News 🏴🇦🇺 (@TheMcLarenZone) October 10, 2023
From the beginning of the season, all the teams thought that Red Bull would be untouchable this season. To their credit, they have been except for one weekend in Singapore. In most of the races, Max Verstappen finished the race 10-20 seconds ahead of everyone else. However, in the Qatar Grand Prix, Oscar Piastri finished only 4 seconds behind Max. In a recent interview, former team owner Eddie Jordan said:
“McLaren at the moment and Oscar Piastri are just fabulous and he is the only real one that I can see emerging…”
The pace of McLaren has scared a lot of people including Helmut Marko. McLaren now seems to be the team with the highest chances to compete for the Championship against Max Verstappen and Red Bull. This begs the question, who will be the next Champion for McLaren?
Will Oscar Piastri beat Lando Norris to become McLaren’s next Champion?
Over the years, McLaren has been a very successful team. They have won a total of 12 WDCs. This list includes drivers such as Mika Hakkinen, Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Lewis Hamilton, Niki Lauda, and more. The team has been waiting for quite some time to add another name to this list. The last driver to win a Championship for McLaren was Lewis Hamilton in 2008. Since the Briton left the team, they have been facing difficulties in finding pace in the car.
This year, things are finally looking good for McLaren. If they continue down this current course, there is no doubt that they will be challenging for wins and the Championship soon. However, it has been speculated that McLaren has the best driver lineup this season. So the question has to be asked, who will win the next Championship for McLaren?
So Oscar Piastri won a race in F1 before Lando Norris 😲 pic.twitter.com/ppCzKvd5gq
— ESPN F1 (@ESPNF1) October 7, 2023
When there is a battle between 2 teams for the Championship, it is usually safer to prioritize one of the two drivers. This prevents the drivers from making mistakes while battling against each other. In 2007, McLaren had a civil war between Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso. They were also battling Kimi Raikkonen in Ferrari. However, the 2 drivers were too busy fighting each other, so they let Kimi take the Championship by 1 point.
If McLaren finds themselves battling for the Championship against another team, they will need to make their priorities clear. Although Oscar has been delivering impressive results, He is still a rookie and is still learning. Lando has been more consistent throughout the season. He is also more experienced than Oscar. Due to this, McLaren may favor Lando Norris to help him and the team in the potential Championship battle.
If a McLaren driver is to be crowned Champion next season, Lando Norris would be the most probable choice. But who do you think will be the Champion in 2024? Post your answers in the comment section below.
