Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris guided McLaren to a 50th Formula 1 one-two finish at the Chinese Grand Prix, but they did so after overcoming difficulties that sought to peg the pacesetters back.
The blistering race simulation in Bahrain pre-season testing by Norris warned the rest of the F1 field that the MCL39 could well dominate in racing conditions. Moving to the Australian season-opener, it came to pass that McLaren also had a significant one-lap pace advantage as Norris and Piastri locked out the front row with a 0.3s buffer to the rest of the field.
In the race, McLaren looked set to clinch a one-two as the conditions dried and the MCL39 unleashed its most impressive trait, conserving tyres, to streak ahead and only a late shower put paid to that as Piastri slipped into the grass to leave Norris to take top honours alone. One thing both drivers acknowledged in Melbourne was how McLaren’s new car is prone to punishing mistakes and is on a knife-edge.
Sure, the MCL39 is the quickest of the bunch, but it requires total commitment and near perfection to get the job done over one lap.
Shanghai exposed McLaren limitations
Heading to Shanghai, Norris spoke about how the front-limited MCL39 didn’t particularly suit his driving style and desire to attack corners. With Shanghai being a front-limited circuit, Norris suffered more than Piastri with the MCL39’s tricky characteristics which is why we didn’t see McLaren rule the roost in Sprint Qualifying.
Piastri lined up third and Norris sixth for the short-format Sprint race at the Shanghai International Circuit, and while the Aussie improved to second, a poor start for the Australian GP victor and difficulties with front graining relegated him to eighth. But while Norris wasn’t fully satisfied with his improvement in GP qualifying, aborting his final run after errors to land third on the grid, Piastri secured pole.
Then in the race itself, the two McLaren drivers showcased over 56 laps that the hard yards they’d put in through the weekend had paid dividends. Piastri controlled proceedings throughout while Norris improved up to second, and a late-race brake issue couldn’t stop him from completing the 50th one-two in McLaren’s history, restoring the squad’s advantage over the rest of the field.
McLaren F1 driver pairing key to China improvement – Stella
Team Principal Andrea Stella declared post-race that the strength in its driver line-up meant that Piastri and Norris could learn from one another to deliver the landmark result.
“There was good learning from the Sprint [on Saturday],” he said. “I think we saw that with the set-up that we had the car was using the front tyres too aggressively so we needed to make some adjustments to the setup of the car. But we also worked extensively with the two drivers to adapt the driving style.
“According to their natural driving style, Oscar was having less graining than Lando, so Lando needed to pick something from Oscar. And there were a few things that Oscar picked from Lando.”
Stella added that Norris, in particular, was able to learn from Piastri, who fared better throughout the weekend, to ensure he could deliver on race day.
“I don’t want to disclose too much, but definitely Lando was even making questions about ‘how is this?’; and this is something that he was trying to adapt for the race somehow, having looked at what Oscar was doing,” Stella explained. “There were some other aspects that Oscar was double-checking, because he picked from Lando. It makes our internal competition interesting, but I think overall it elevates the game so much for the team that we are very lucky to have Oscar and Lando with us.
“This is something that I’ve said in Australia as well: the importance of having two drivers of this very high level is the fact that the information one can take from the other is valid information, is relevant. And if you can do a good job of merging the strengths of both, then you elevate your game. This is what I saw in Australia very, very clearly, and this is also what I saw here.”
McLaren lineup rivals Ferrari – Norris
In response, Norris argued the strength in McLaren’s driver line-up is only rivalled by Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc at Ferrari and agreed that it continues to be an invaluable asset to the team.
“Probably apart from Ferrari, I don’t think there’s another team that has two drivers that push each other anywhere near as much,” he said post-race on Sunday. “And for us, that’s a huge advantage. Even if you have the same car for everyone, if you have a team with two drivers who can push each other, they’re always going to beat everyone else that’s just on their own.
“So we have a great car, we have a great team, but we also have two drivers that are pushing each other more than any other team has. And that will always triumph—even [over] the best driver on the grid.
“That’s one of our biggest strengths at the minute—how we’re able to learn from each other. We have different ways we drive. He wants some things on the car, I want different things. But normally our ways align and we always want the same thing in the end. Oscar’s ability to adapt to a track like this was impressive, and something I clearly struggled a lot more to do.
“I hate understeer. The one thing I almost hate as much as brakes not working is probably understeer, and that’s what we had this weekend. As soon as we put the Hards on, for instance, my pace was a lot stronger because I had some front finally.
“But yeah, I’ve learned a lot this weekend from Oscar and his ability to adapt to these different situations. It’s definitely something we’ll maximise because it’s helping us beat every other team at the minute. It’s a great car and two incredible drivers!”
Piastri concurred with this vision, saying, “I think we’ve got different strengths and weaknesses as drivers. And I think this weekend there were certain points where it just worked a bit to my favour, naturally. And I think there’s been other weekends where it definitely hasn’t, and I’ve had to try and look at things from how Lando’s driven and apply them myself.
“I think that is definitely the advantage—or an advantage—we have. Having strong team-mates, you always learn from each other. It’s impossible to measure how much lap time you gain from pushing one another, but you do gain something, that’s for sure. So I think we always push each other, always learn things. I’ve certainly learned a lot in the last couple of years. Maybe there were some things to learn the other way yesterday, but I think every single weekend we are learning one thing or another from each other.”
Piastri shows significant 12-month improvement
But its not just a session-by-session improvement that helped deliver McLaren a one-two in China, but a yearly one. Piastri, in his third season, continues to show his aptitude for personal growth.
His maiden pole position proved he’s banishing the qualifying demons that saw him lose out on 20 occasions to Norris last year, and victory in Shanghai triggered an important memory from Stella. 12 months ago, Piastri finished eighth in the Chinese GP as Norris claimed the runner-up spot and Stella hailed the improvement the Australian has made in the interim.
“I think his racecraft, his overall speed, his, to some extent his questions related to the race, they were very punctual,” Stella said. “They were like the right question, at the right time. So I would consider that, once again, as part of the racecraft. They have improved over the winter.
“There’s been quite a lot of work, you know, a long list of opportunities, a long list of races that you review. Here we should do this, we should do that, these adaptations. But for me, the biggest indication of his progress is 12 months ago here in China. I still remember after the race, having a chat one-to-one with Oscar outside one of these hospitalities and, like, scratching our head a little bit and saying, like ‘there’s a lot to pick in terms of learning from this race’. And looking 12 months after, I think we took all this learning, and we capitalised.”
What all of this proves is that while McLaren could face more difficulties this season, it has the wherewithal within its ranks to work through those issues to ensure it delivers the maximum result when it comes to crunch time.
2025 could well be the year of Papaya on top.
READ MORE – Lando Norris: Chinese GP provided ‘answers for my struggles’ with McLaren F1 car
