What McLaren ‘sources’ are saying about Oscar Piastri’s mentality compared to Lando Norris

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Oscar Piastri matched Lando Norris haul of two race victories with his triumph at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Some believe the balance of power at McLaren is starting to shift.

It should be said that Norris remains ahead in the championship by a margin of 32 points. He’s the only driver who really stands a chance of overhauling Max Verstappen at this point.

Norris has also had a clear advantage over Piastri on a single lap. His shock Q1 exit in Baku saw the Australian outqualify him for just the third time this season.

He’s also 11-6 up in the race-day head-to-head. But Piastri has beaten him in four of the past five.

18 months into his career, the former F2 champion appears to have developed into a match for Norris. He bravely passed him at the start of the Hungarian and Italian Grands Prix, with the first move key in securing a maiden victory.

Piastri is enjoying a fine run of five podiums in seven races. McLaren intend to favour Norris amid his battle with Verstappen, but the number two may usurp the number one before long.

McLaren address how Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris respond to pressure

According to ESPN, some members of the McLaren team believe that Piastri may have a higher ‘ceiling’ than Norris. Both are widely regarded as future world champions, but the former’s rate of improvement is eye-catching.

Other ‘sources’ in the team have explained that he ‘feels and responds to pressure differently to Norris’. They didn’t explicitly say that he was better at dealing with it, but it’s a potentially telling comparison.

Piastri had to fend off Charles Leclerc for around 30 laps after his superb race-winning overtake in Azerbaijan. He positioned his car perfectly in defence and made very few mistakes.

Meanwhile, errors have hurt Norris in his title bid. He lost places at the start of the Belgian GP by running wide and ran long in his pit box at Silverstone.

Most significantly, perhaps, the Briton has surrendered the lead on lap one in all three of the races he’s started on pole. Piastri is yet to line up at the front, though he has qualified on the front row four times this year.

What Bernie Collins finds ‘frustrating’ about Oscar Piastri despite Azerbaijan Grand Prix win

Piastri’s Baku victory ranks as one of the most impressive drives of the season. Indeed, it netted him the driver of the day award for the fourth time in his career.

Engineer Tom Stallard ‘begged’ Piastri to nurse his tyres at the start of each stint. But the 23-year-old ignored that advice, sensing his best opportunity to pass Leclerc on fresh rubber.

McLaren had brought him into the pits a few laps earlier, which meant he could wipe out the gap the Ferrari driver had built up in the first phase. Really, it was the Monegasque’s race to win.

Bernie Collins wants more ‘passion’ from Piastri and says his lack of emotion can be ‘frustrating’. But his ‘under control’ demeanour is clearly serving him well on track.