In his first yr as a Method 1 driver, Oscar Piastri did a lot to justify the hype which accompanied his arrival.
In any case, he’s the motive force McLaren sensationally lured away from Alpine’s younger driver programme, infuriating their rivals by handing him a full-time seat alongside Lando Norris.
By the second half of final yr Piastri was often exhibiting Norris up, out-qualifying him 6-5 throughout that point. Would that show a springboard for an much more spectacular second season?
Possibly not. Piastri carried out much less effectively in qualifying in comparison with Norris this yr, the hole widening from 15-7 final yr to 20-4. He spent a bigger proportion of the season operating behind his workforce mate on-track, too.
However these figures want a bit extra context – and Piastri’s efficiency was clearly higher in different areas too.
He was unquestionably a clear pair of arms, for instance, being the one driver to finish each lap of each grand prix. Consequently, although Piastri spent extra laps behind Norris he additionally spent extra laps forward of him.
The qualifying battle might have mirrored much less effectively on Piastri, however there have been notable enhancements from each drivers. Norris more and more lower out the errors on single flying laps which aggravated him a lot earlier in his profession. Piastri was way more constant: He seldom dropped greater than three-tenths of a second behind Norris and was both inside a tenth or forward on 11 events.
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Most importantly, Piastri delivered, tripling his factors complete in comparison with the earlier yr.
There was a spell throughout the center of the season when Piastri threatened to significantly upend Norris’s exterior likelihood of profitable the championship. Over a six-race spell he began behind his workforce mate however completed forward 4 occasions.
Max Verstappen’s tactical belligerence in the direction of his closest championship rival was undeniably an element, however Piastri additionally proved himself a power to be reckoned with. Maybe Verstappen sensed that too, which might clarify his hasty half-move on the primary lap of the season finale.
In direction of the top of the yr Norris sharpened up and completed forward of Piastri extra persistently. There have been events the place the senior driver clearly extracted extra from the automobile.
Whereas this may need been a case of Norris rising to the event within the championship, McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown felt the competitors with Piastri was pushing him on. It’s not arduous to see how that might have been so.
McLaren confronted a headache in Hungary this yr when Norris initially refused to just accept an instruction to let Piastri by into the lead. He finally complied, and later within the yr each drivers confirmed their willingness to alternate positions once they felt it crucial. If Piastri continues bettering on this method, they need to anticipate to face extra of those conditions in 2025.
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Norris vs Piastri in 2024
Total scores
Head-to-heads
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Qualifying gaps
Unrepresentative comparisons omitted. Damaging worth: Norris was quicker; Constructive worth: Piastri was quicker
