‘Street fighter’: F1 icon’s telling Piastri comment, Aussie has ‘got inside Lando’s head’
F1 commentators have pointed out a clear difference in how Max Verstappen treats Oscar Piastri amid a worrying trend for Lando Norris.
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One former F1 driver believes Oscar Piastri has “got inside Lando Norris’ head” as commentators float the theory Max Verstappen races the Aussie differently to his McLaren teammate.
Piastri is 16 points ahead of Norris in the standings after six races following his victory at the Miami Grand Prix, where he became the first McLaren driver since 1998 to win three races in a row.
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There is still a long time left in the season but hopes are high Piastri can break a drought and become Australia’s third F1 world champion and the first since Alan Jones back in 1980.
Piastri’s calmness behind the wheel was on show again in Miami when he used his killer instinct to fly past Norris on a chaotic start and outfox Verstappen to take the lead of the race.
He also came out ahead of Verstappen in a heated duel at the start of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Piastri has a rocket ship of a car this season but the ease at which he’s overtaken Verstappen in recent times has sparked comparisons to Norris’ struggles with getting past the Dutchman.
Verstappen and Norris clashed several times on track last season but the world champion won most of their battles on his way to a fourth title.
Watch Oscar Piastri’s overtake on Max Verstappen in Miami in the video above
Asked on Sky Sports if Verstappen races Piastri differently to Norris, commentator Martin Brundle said: “100 per cent, yes unquestionably.
“I think he (Verstappen) knows that there’s something a bit more street fighter about Oscar Piastri, he saw it in Jeddah.
“I think Max knows he’s got a different animal when Oscar’s in his mirrors, not by much, than Lando.
“Just (in terms of the) positioning of the car, there’s a decisiveness about what he did (overtaking Verstappen in Miami).
“You can’t criticise Lando’s race craft because the way he passed the Mercedes and eventually Max was just top drawer.
“But I have absolutely no doubt, and just what he says as well, that Max realises Oscar’s a different deal in wheel to wheel combat.”
Norris is second in this year’s championship but is driving below his best, with Piastri’s rapid improvement and strong race craft seemingly putting pressure on his teammate to be perfect on track.
In his Sky Sports column, Brundle wrote: “Piastri has great race craft and it’s fractionally more effective and clinical than Norris, and Verstappen knows that too.
“On lap 14 Piastri would eventually coerce Verstappen onto the defensive into turn one, both in terms of forcing him offline and tight to the inside and having to brake too late. Piastri instinctively saw the Red Bull slide developing and adjusted his position perfectly before ducking underneath and seizing a lead he would never relinquish.”
Seven-time F1 race winner Juan Pablo Montoya told Instant Casino Piastri has a mental edge over Norris in the battle within the McLaren garage.
“Absolutely, Oscar Piastri has got inside Lando Norris’s head. Lando just wants so much more that it’s not there, realistically,” Montoya said.
“I think somebody needs to be on Lando’s corner to go to him and say, ‘Just stop looking at Oscar. Just do you. At the weekend he said he felt clueless and like he’d never driven an F1 car before. Then he made those mistakes.
“What you can see clearly is that he’s putting enough pressure on Lando to force him into making mistakes.
“If Lando stays in his bubble and does what Lando does best without worrying about Oscar, I think Lando could beat him pretty easily.
“But the problem is Oscar is getting too close for him. I think Lando wants to see like a 2 or 3 tenths of a second gap where he can relax. And when he has that he can push comfortably knowing that he has that cushion.
“But when that cushion is not there, he tries to create a cushion when it’s not needed. You can be on pole by half a tenth, or a tenth. But he’s not looking to be on pole by a tenth of a second, but by three or four. And that’s where the mistakes are coming. They are self-inflicted.”
Aussie champion Alan Jones labelled Norris “mentally weak” for his habit of negative self-talk after mistakes and poor performances, and the Brit is being urged to be more positive.
“Every other year when Lando’s done good, he was the underdog,” said Montoya.
“And this time, like he’s defending himself saying, ‘We’re still really good, it’s not the car.’
“They are in the best car. He’s putting extra pressure on himself. He shouldn’t be making excuses and apologising. He should just celebrate that they have the best car, tell everyone that everybody on the team is doing an amazing job and we’re winning the races.”
Norris has traditionally been strong in qualifying, which could well decide the championship battle between the two McLarens.
It is too early for McLaren to play favourites in the garage, with the Piastri-Norris battle set to come to a head later in the season after the summer break.
“That would be difficult [to prioritise Piastri over Norris],” said Montoya.
“I think if Lando had an advantage, it would be clearer to tell Oscar, ‘OK, let’s be smart.’ That’s not the case.
“I think what they’re going to do is to base everything on qualifying at the moment. They want to score them. They want to maximise the amount of constructors’ points and they don’t want them to race each other this early in the year.
“Basically, if you qualify ahead, it’s yours. Unless something major happens or you go off, we’re going to control the situation until race 15.
“Then at that point the constructors’ championship should be done.”
Piastri now has more career race wins (six) than Norris (five) and is expected to surpass the career tallies of Daniel Ricciardo (eight) and Mark Webber (nine) later this year.
The 24-year-old is usually cool as a cucumber but he pumped his fists in a rare glimpse of emotion after winning in Miami from fourth on the grid.
The F1 season continues at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on Sunday 18 May at 11pm AEST.
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