McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella has described Oscar Piastri as a “unique talent” in Formula 1 and believes he is an “absolute reference” for Lando Norris already.
Piastri was poached by McLaren away from Alpine midway through last year after the team made the decision to dispense with Daniel Ricciardo at the conclusion of 2022.
Despite taking the Woking side’s sole victory of the turbo-hybrid era at Monza 2021, Ricciardo was utterly thrashed by Norris, bringing an early end to his McLaren stint.
While Norris has largely had the upper hand over his new team-mate, Piastri has out-qualified Norris at the past two rounds and finished ahead in Qatar as McLaren secured a second consecutive double podium.
The rookie also managed to pip Norris to the fastest time in the Sprint Shootout before recording his maiden F1 victory in the Sprint Race – a feat the Briton is yet to achieve.
However, Stella has downplayed Piastri’s growing threat to Norris, underlining that not even a World Champion calibre driver should be expected to always beat their team-mate.
“In terms of picking up the challenge itself with Oscar, first of all, Lando knows himself, that Oscar is a unique talent,” Stella said. “You know, you don’t see these kinds of talents in Formula 1 every day.
“So it’s an absolute reference, even if he’s a rookie and at times Lando knows that he will be, he will set the bar very high. If you are a champion like Lando is, you will have to take that from a positive point of view because it gives you so much information to keep improving.
“There’s no champion in the world in any sport that wins everything, you know, is for a driver is faster in every corner, faster in every lap, faster in every session. Maybe Max [Verstappen] this year maybe, but that’s pretty exceptional.
“So for me, Lando sees this as a bit of discomfort but it’s the discomfort you need to become the best in a way. It is a curse and blessing to be a champion.”
Norris was extremely critical of his performance across the Qatar Grand Prix weekend, admitting that he potentially threw away two pole positions and race victories.
He ended qualifying 10th after having both his Q3 lap times – good enough for second place – deleted for track limits. Norris would recover to third, only 6s behind race winner Verstappen, who started from pole.
In between, Norris would rue a costly mistake on his final flying run in the Shootout which enabled Piastri to usurp him for top spot. Norris’ demotion to the dirty side of the grid witnessed him get away sluggishly in the Sprint, while Piastri nailed the start to resist late-race pressure from Verstappen.
Stella has praised Norris’ ability to reflect on his own performances, particularly when he has made a mistake or come up short.
“Lando is, you know, such an honest person and I think even he perpetuates dishonesty in every kind of relationship, including the one with himself,” he noted.
“I think he wants to make sure that if he gets it wrong, he gets it from the holistic point of view, you know like he doesn’t want to look arrogant, he doesn’t want to look like I’m not acknowledging that I could’ve done better. So I make it very clear.”
Although Stella believes Norris was overly critical regarding his mishaps, the Italian asserts both drivers’ development away from the race track is as important as on it.
“But at the same time, like I said before about champions, you need to find the right balance and you need to find the right dynamics in terms of communication to the world, in terms of communication to yourself, to put yourself in the position to perform today and in the position to keep improving every day,” he explained.
“So I think given how harsh he was on himself, following especially the qualifying on Friday would be an element of review. And this review will happen again, very honestly.
“And he will calibrate over time to see how tough do I really have to be with myself. Like what is the target here? To be faster in every single corner, in every single lap, in every single session, or just be the best which doesn’t imply all the rest.
“So, I mean, there’s a bit of a journey which is for Lando, it will be for Oscar and it’s for each of us in the team.”
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