Can Oscar Piastri transcend the rear-gunner role and upend McLaren’s hierarchy?

When the Formula One bandwagon regroups in the land of glitz, glamour, and gambling in Las Vegas, ahead of the final set of triple-headers (Vegas, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi) to close out the 2024 season, both the titles are mathematically still up for grabs.

Max Verstappen leads Lando Norris by 62 points, with 86 points still in play. McLaren leads Ferrari by 36 points, with Red Bull a further 13 adrift. Verstappen, barring catastrophic non-finishes in at least two events, will likely enter the new year as a quadruple world champion.

The Dutchman’s stunning drive in damp conditions in Brazil, where he took his eighth win, pretty much snuffed out any outside chance Norris might have had of fighting for the drivers’ title.

Meaningful impact

While Verstappen and Norris have been the protagonists this season, there have been many impressive performers. One driver who has made a meaningful impact on the championship is the guy piloting the second McLaren — Oscar Piastri.

In his sophomore campaign, the Australian is already a two-time race winner and has played a vital role in getting McLaren within striking distance of its first constructors’ title since 1998.

Often, teams have an informal No. 1 driver whom they back to lead the charge, like Verstappen for Red Bull or Charles Leclerc for Ferrari. Although Norris is the entrenched McLaren team leader, Piastri’s performances have been a little too impressive for him to be boxed into an understudy role. The team can credibly claim to have the grid’s best driver line-up. Come 2025, Piastri, with two years of experience, including wins and podiums, could well shake up the hierarchy at McLaren.

The 23-year-old’s entry into the sport was shrouded in controversy when Alpine, where he was the reserve driver, unilaterally announced signing him for 2023 without agreeing a contract to replace the outgoing Fernando Alonso. In a stunning development, Piastri clarified a few hours later that he wouldn’t drive for the team. Later, it emerged that he would take his compatriot Daniel Ricciardo’s seat at McLaren.

Alpine approached the FIA’s Contract Recognition Board, which ruled in McLaren’s favour after the French team did not have a proper contract. But despite being legally correct, Piastri was unfairly vilified by many, including some team bosses, who questioned his loyalty or lack thereof for being part of the Alpine Academy and choosing to go elsewhere.

Colossal pressure

He debuted under colossal pressure, handling a McLaren that was woefully off the pace in the first half of 2023. However, as the car became quicker in the second half, Piastri found his footing and showed his true pace, nicking a few podiums and a sprint win in Qatar.

The former F3 and F2 champion — he clinched both titles as a rookie — was not far off Norris, especially in qualifying. A good barometer of drivers is how quick they are in the high-speed sections. Piastri, like his manager and former F1 driver Mark Webber, was mighty around such corners, especially in places like Silverstone.

While he was pretty quick over a single lap, he struggled in races due to poor tyre management, which boiled down to inexperience in managing the thermally sensitive Pirelli compounds. He has shown remarkable improvement in this area this year, and the results are there to see.  

This year, McLaren took a big step forward at the Miami GP, which Norris won. But it was Piastri who was the lead McLaren at the event, running in second behind Verstappen, despite not having all the upgrades Norris had. He could have won the race if not for a safety car intervention after he had pitted. Norris managed to jump into the lead by boxing during the safety car.

Like his entry into F1, his first career win was not straightforward either. At the Hungarian GP, Piastri jumped pole-sitter Norris into the first corner and controlled the race until McLaren made a mess of things. In a bid to protect Norris, who was running second, from Verstappen, the team opted to pit the Brit ahead of race-leader Piastri at the second stop. 

Power dynamic: Piastri has dutifully played second fiddle to Norris thus far, but will things change in the final races? | Photo credit: Getty Images

This allowed Norris to lead the race for the final stint as McLaren booby-trapped itself into a situation where Piastri was set to lose his first race win. After much cajoling and a few veiled threats from the pit wall, Norris moved aside to give Piastri his maiden win, but not before taking the sheen off it.

Former Indian F1 driver and TV pundit Karun Chandhok told The Hindu recently, “He [Piastri] has been amazing. His progress from last season has been really impressive. If you look at certain races, you look at Hungary last year, he really struggled. He was really struggling with tyre wear, and this year, he won.

“I have been surprised with how quickly he has improved in terms of the race management. I think that’s the hardest part of Formula 1 now. The speed was never in doubt. Last year, he was pretty much as quick as Lando in the second half of the year. But it’s the race management that I think [where] the experience counts.”

Just as Piastri was building momentum — he scored the most points on the grid during a stretch of seven races — there was a belief that Norris had a chance to fight for the drivers’ crown and needed the Aussie to play his rear-gunner.

Quick learner

At the Italian GP, Piastri showcased his wheel-to-wheel acumen, pulling off an audacious move on the opening lap to take the lead from Norris. But it allowed Leclerc to pass the latter and score a famous win for Ferrari on home soil on a better tyre strategy. In the next race in Baku, Piastri showed that he is a fast learner, getting the better of Leclerc by sending down a surprise late-breaking overtake on fresh tyres that helped him gain track position and take his second win.

McLaren then decided to prioritise Norris’s title bid, and the Melburnian has dutifully played his role, including in Brazil, where he gave up a sprint win.

But now, with Norris’ title challenge all but over, it will be interesting to see how Piastri closes the season out. While McLaren would not want its drivers to battle hard, considering the constructors’ title is still on the line, Piastri may no longer feel the need to be subservient to Norris. The youngster will want to outscore his teammate in the remaining races to gain momentum ahead of next year and lay down a marker. 

And if Piastri can take a similar step next year as he did this year, the Australian might prove to have a higher ceiling than Norris, which portends an exciting time for the sport.