McLaren Resurgance
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are the two drivers for the legendary racing team, McLaren. There have been legends of the sport who have driven for them including Lewis Hamilton, Aytron Senna, Niki Lauda and countless others. With the weight of legends weighing on them, McLaren have been far from the top step of Formula 1, though the tide seems to be shifting.
Lando Norris has been at McLaren since 2019, but had been driving in their academy system for 2 years prior. The Brit burst onto the scene and has been a loving figure in F1 since. Lando has gotten 5 2nd place finishes in his career, 10 podium finishes and 1 pole position. Though he has all the talent in the world, McLaren have yet to give him a car that is actually capable of winning a race, until this year?
Not only do McLaren have one of the best drivers on the grid with Lando, they also acquired the highly touted Australian, Oscar Piastri. Oscar joined the Renault Sports Academy in 2020, in which the parent team was Alpine (formally known as Renault). He did multiple test runs for the french outfit in 2020, getting his bearings in an F1 car and showing great promise. After winning the F2 Championship, he was promoted to Reserve driver for Alpine and was in line to take the 2nd seat alongside French teammate, Esteban Ocon.
Though after an insane 2022 “silly season” which translates into offseason moves for drivers and team personnel, Alpine had confirmed him as their 2nd driver after WDC Fernando Alonso sealed a shocking move to Aston Martin, to replace another legend in Sebastian Vettel, who retired at the end of the season. After Alpine posted on social media that they would be signing the young start as their 2nd driver, the Aussie immediately denied any part of signing a contract for them in a tweet:
Team Principal for Alpine at the time, Otmar Szafnauer, criticized Piastri’s actions and “integrity” stating that he expected loyalty from the team that gave him his first F1 shot.
Though after all that mess, Team Principal Zak Brown made the call, and got his man in Piastri to replace fellow Aussie, Daniel Riccardo.
After a horrible start to the 2023 season, the team looked in shambles. Though after getting good results before the summer break and bringing in upgrades to the car, they have been on a tear with back to back podium finishes for Lando and a podium for Oscar. With the track they are on now, it is only a matter of time before a race win is back at McLaren, but that begs the question, will it be Lando or Oscar?
