Martin Brundle tells McLaren to avoid turning Oscar Piastri into 11-win F1 driver with team order calls

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Oscar Piastri has been one of the most improved drivers since last season having taken two wins at the wheel of his McLaren.

The Australian is expected to challenge for titles with McLaren soon but had to first endure a tough start to the year compared to Lando Norris.

Qualifying was often his weak point having made mistakes that cost him, notably during the Spanish Grand Prix when he could have achieved pole.

Piastri has been out-qualified by Norris by a ratio of 14-3 in 17 races, but the Australian has managed to rack up 237 points compared to the Briton’s 285 points total.

McLaren has told Piastri that he must support Norris in the title race, considering they are close to achieving their first Constructors’ Championship since 1998 and the Drivers’ title is close with five races left.

While Piastri still has a chance to win mathematically, McLaren must back Norris to ensure they are maximising their chances. Martin Brundle believes the team must also be careful not to alienate Piastri and create a number two driver scenario when speaking on Sky Sports.

Marin Brundle uses Rubens Barrichello example for Oscar Piastri

Piastri is managed by former Red Bull driver Mark Webber, who knows what it was like first-hand to be second-best within a team when he went up against Sebastian Vettel.

McLaren elected not to fit the full upgrade set to Piastri’s car and gave it to Norris because he is currently ahead in the title battle at the US GP.

Brundle believes that while McLaren is right to back Norris, they must ensure that Piastri is not turned into a number two driver.

“Rubens Barrichello and Felipe Massa got put into a number two driver situation that I’m not sure psychologically they ever recovered from,” said Brundle.

“You don’t want to do that with Oscar Piastri, he’s got a great future ahead of him. They’re between a rock and a hard place, I think they’ve played it reasonably well but they have left points on the table and that means they haven’t put Red Bull under as much pressure.”

What Oscar Piastri is doing ‘phenomenally well’ behind the scenes

Piastri has immediately made an impression after joining McLaren through his consistency in the races this season, which has enabled the team to leapfrog Red Bull in the championship.

His engineer, Tom Stallard said he has managed to ‘galvanise’ the team since he joined them in 2023, developing personal relationships with various members.

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This leadership quality has impressed McLaren at such a young age, given most are 10 years his senior within the team.

Jenson Button has also been impressed with how Piastri has taken the challenge to Norris this season, in what he expects will be a close title battle between the pair in the future.