McLaren is going to be in the hunt for titles this year if their form at the end of 2024 is anything to go by, with both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in prime positions.
The Woking-based squad was the first team to show off their 2025 challenger when they ran it in a shakedown at Silverstone earlier in February, which was effectively a warning shot for rivals.
The car ran in a camo-style livery before they unveiled their proper colours at the F1 75 event in front of 16,000+ fans and over a million fans online. While the livery is largely unchanged, there are plenty of features that have got experts excited about the new car.
Norris and Piastri have given positive first impressions having driven it in the shakedown, although both drivers only completed a handful of laps ahead of pre-season testing at the end of February.
If McLaren emerges as the team to beat in 2025, there is likely to be an intra-team battle between Norris and Piastri. CEO Zak Brown has outlined one area that he thinks Piastri is more ‘impressive’ than Norris when speaking on the Beyond the Grid podcast.
Oscar Piastri better in high speed corners than Lando Norris
Piastri and Norris were on the receiving end of team orders last year, as the latter was embroiled in a battle for the championship with Max Verstappen.
To prevent the teammates from taking points off each other, McLaren employed ‘Papaya Rules’ which effectively dictated that neither driver was allowed to create a competitive disadvantage on track through racing.
Team principal Andrea Stella has claimed that it would be his ‘dream’ scenario if both drivers were the only two fighting for the title in 2025. Norris appears to have the edge over Piastri in qualifying, but Brown thinks the Australian is far superior in one aspect.
“He’s very fast and the part where he is most impressive is in the high-speed corners. He and Lando are very similar and they have similar driving styles, but when you look at Oscar through the quick stuff, he’s brave,” said Brown.
Guenther Steiner backs Oscar Piastri for 2025 title
Piastri is entering his third full-time season in F1 for 2025, and it could be the best chance he has of taking his first title.
There are a lot of connotations to Lewis Hamilton’s second season at McLaren in 2008, given he was also relatively inexperienced with only one season but close to winning a title.
READ MORE: Zak Brown now believes McLaren face a ‘good problem’ in 2025 after title-winning season
Guenther Steiner has backed Piastri to win his first title in 2025, citing his impressive rookie season as the reason why he will achieve the feat. Norris has been compared to Senna, but he has a long way to go in his career before achieving the same success as that McLaren legend.
Piastri responded at the recent F1 75 event to Steiner’s comments but stressed that he must ‘prove it’ when he it out on track.
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