Tom Coronel outlines what Oscar Piastri ‘can’t handle’ at McLaren compared to Lando Norris

Oscar Piastri enjoyed an impressive 2024 season as McLaren won their first Constructors’ Championship in 26 years.

The Aussie finished fourth in the drivers’ standings as he only finished outside the points once all year. Piastri grabbed his maiden F1 wins at the Hungarian Grand Prix and Azerbaijan Grand Prix, collecting a total of eight podiums.

The 23-year-old’s results helped McLaren secure their first constructors’ title since 1998 as he and teammate Lando Norris grabbed six wins across the season – with Norris’ win at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix being enough to win the title over Ferrari by 14 points.

Despite Max Verstappen winning the drivers’ title, McLaren’s constructors’ win arguably makes them to team to beat as they boast the strongest package on the grid and have two drivers who are capable of fighting at the front.

However, speaking on the RacingNews365 YouTube channel, Dutch pundit Tom Coronel is not convinced Piastri has what it takes to compete for the title.

Tom Coronel says Oscar Piastri ‘can’t handle’ a title fight with McLaren like Lando Norris

While the Aussie has displayed solid speed and competitiveness in his time in F1 so far, he has been largely outperformed by Norris in all areas.

In 2024, Piastri was outqualified 20-4 by Norris, with the Brit grabbing eight pole positions in the process – the joint most with Verstappen – and was beaten 16-8 in the races.

McLaren engineer Tom Stallard has said Piastri must improve in qualifying to reach the same level as Norris in 2025, with the team having a great opportunity to fight Verstappen for the championship.

But Coronel says that, while in theory, the Aussie should be able to compete for the title, it will ‘not happen’ as Norris is the ‘stronger man’ at McLaren.

“Piastri had, at the end, still a lot of trouble with Lando,” said Coronel. “[He was] fast every now and then, he peaks but he still miss[es] the consistency a bit.

“If you were to say should he go for the championship next year, in theory, yes, but in practice, it still won’t happen.

“I see that Lando Norris still has the upper hand, [he] always has and yes, now the time has come that he really has to get to that level because the car can do it, the team can do it, but I see that he himself can’t handle it.

“I see that Lando Norris is really just the stronger man at McLaren.”

Can McLaren get the edge over Max Verstappen in 2025?

McLaren will head into the 2025 season as the ones to watch out for with their strong driver pairing and the performance of their package. But many will be left wondering if the team has it in them to win the drivers’ title as it can be argued that 2024 was a missed opportunity for the team.

Norris lost out to Verstappen by 63 points in 2024, despite McLaren’s best efforts to aid his title bid with their ‘papaya rules. Marc Surer says McLaren made a ‘big mistake’ not prioritising Norris sooner as he ultimately failed to take advantage of the MCL38’s pace over the RB20.

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Norris will be one of the favourites to win the 2025 championship, but the Brit will certainly face pressure from Piastri, who has shown this season that he is eager to fight his teammate on track.

Guenther Steiner thinks Piastri will be Norris’ biggest enemy in 2025 rather than Verstappen as the Aussie will looking to stamp his authority over his teammate. Whether he has the consistency to battle for podiums and race wins is another question.