‘World champ in the making’: F1 insider’s view on McLaren alpha battle as Piastri’s ceiling explodes

An F1 commentator says a national rivalry between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris could drive both to new heights — if McLaren can keep them in line.

The history of Australia-England relations is littered with iconic sporting rivalries.

The Ashes is of course the biggest despite the prize being a diminutive urn, but netball holds its own whenever the Diamonds meet the Roses.

Rugby carries the same burden of history, while Australia’s losing semi-final against England at last year’s football Women’s World Cup will forever scar the national sporting psyche.

But motorsport? Not so much.

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Mark Webber’s 2010 title rival was German Sebastian Vettel. Alan Jones before him feuded with Argentine teammate Carlos Reutemann.

You’d have to go back to the 1950s and 1960s to find even a semblance of British-Australian rivalry in Formula 1, with Jack Brabham battling Tony Brooks, Stirling Moss, Jim Clark and John Surtees to win his three world championships.

Could Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri be the first genuine England-Australia feud?

Norris and Piastri increasingly appear set on a career collision course. Norris, in his sixth year in Formula 1, at long last won his first race this season and is embarking on a shock championship challenge as title leader Max Verstappen falters.

But second-year driver Piastri is already a regular match for the highly-rated Briton. Arriving in Formula 1 as a decorated junior and with great expectations, the Australian is fulfilling his promise faster than expected.

McLaren's Australian driver Oscar Piastri (L) and McLaren's British driver Lando Norris pose ahead of the Formula One Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku on September 12, 2024. (Photo by Natalia KOLESNIKOVA / AFP)

If McLaren starts next season with the fastest car, as its development trajectory suggests it will, Norris and Piastri will overnight become championship contemporaries, and a new chapter in the Australia-England rivalry will instantly be born.

“I think that it is very healthy in life to have a clear rival, and when it comes to sport, England-Australia is always a clear rivalry, and in all the best ways,” Sky Sports F1 commentator David Croft tells Fox Sports Australia. “I think it’s a rivalry that brings out the best in the competitors each time they play.

“Be that cricket, be that some of the netball series that we see, be that athletics on the track, be it rugby union or rugby league — whatever — there’s always a real intensity between England and Australia.

“McLaren should use that to their best effect, because if it does bring out the best in the competitors, it does see them move to new higher levels and push themselves harder, that is only good for the team as well.”

Nationalism aside, such a high-stakes rivalry would be a fascinating arena in which to pit these two clearly talented drivers against each other.

While competing for the grand prix world championship is already a pressure cooker, there’s no more competitively demanding situation than vying for the title against your teammate, the only other driver in pit lane who has access to equal machinery, the same support staff and all your driving secrets.

That’s particularly the case given there’s no knowing at this early stage of his career just how good Piastri is going to get.

While Norris is still improving, Piastri is progressing at a faster rate as the less experienced driver with more to learn, and yet the Melburnian is already performing regularly at the Briton’s level.

The paddock is quickly forming the view that the Australian has the higher performance ceiling.

“As soon as it became aware that Oscar was available, [McLaren CEO] Zak Brown jumped at the chance to sign a driver who I think has all the attributes to be a world champion one day,” Croft says.

“I’m not saying Lando doesn’t — I think he has too — but I think it’s quite clear that Oscar is one of the most level-headed, calm, dependable drivers with exceptional talent that we see on the grid.

“I think, and I’ve said this before, he is a world champion in the making. There is no mistake of that whatsoever.

“McLaren know this, identified this, and that’s why they didn’t turn down the opportunity to bring him into the fold.

“I think he will push Lando, and I think Lando will push him, and I think that will be to the benefit of the team.”

But it also increases the odds of an internal reckoning, particularly if the title is on the line.

It’s a dynamite proposition, and not just for viewers.

McLaren would have its work cut out for it to handle what is already arguably the sport’s most competitive driver combination.

The team has been working hard to grapple with its new reality as a championship contender this year. It’s made countless mistakes this season as it adjusts to life at the front, but at the weekend it took the constructors championship lead for the first time it’s led the standings in more than a decade. Gradually it’s succeeding in its transition.

Keeping the team rowing in one direction when the collective title is on the line is a totally different prospect to maintain harmony when half the team is striving for an outcome at the expense of the other, however.

The competitive culture must be established now, when the pressure is manageable, to ensure it’s in place for when it really matters.

“I think this is the real key to McLaren’s success, although he’s quite a modest guy and he probably wouldn’t like to admit it: Andrea Stella,” Croft says.

“He’s taken to that team principal’s role so superbly well and has channelled everything he’s learned over the years as a race engineer to Michael Schumacher, as a race engineer to Fernando Alonso, working within that McLaren organisation.

“He knows how to achieve success. He knows what you need to do. He knows when to be the arm around the shoulder for drivers or for engineers and he knows when to look you firmly in the eye and let you know that he is not very happy with what you’re doing — and I’m sure he’s read the riot act to both drivers at various stages throughout the season.

“He’s a hugely impressive man. His attention to detail is meticulous, and I just think that it won’t be a problem to have two drivers competing at the highest level if they know what is expected of them on the track.”

There are precious few examples of teams deliberately running two alpha drivers for significant time.

“Mercedes did this for many years with their rules of engagement, and both Nico [Rosberg] and Lewis [Hamilton] and Valtteri [Bottas] and Lewis [Hamilton] knew exactly how far they could push it before they’d be in Toto [Wolff]‘s office and detention would be coming their way.

“It’s only ever a problem if there’s a perception that one or other of the drivers has done things they shouldn’t do.

“I would love to have a copy of those papaya rules. We’re probably not going to get a copy of those papaya rules, but it would be nice to see what papaya rules is all about and who’s sticking to it more closely.

“But if you’re open, you’re upfront, you’re honest and those expectations are laid down for you, it shouldn’t be a problem, even if those expectations have changed a bit and the success and the expectation of success has come around a lot more quickly.”

Race winner Oscar Piastri of Australia and McLaren celebrates on the podium during the F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan at Baku City Circuit on September 15, 2024 in Baku, Azerbaijan. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

For now Norris and Piastri are working harmoniously. It would be a stretch to describe their relationship as a true rivalry.

“I think the guys don’t see it as a rivalry necessarily,” Croft says. “They get on well and they support each other well on and off the track.

“McLaren have found themselves with a hugely impressive driver line-up that will serve them well for many years to come, and we’re seeing the benefits of that on the track.”

But the heat can be turned up in an instant.

“They just know that they’re going to be judged on what they do against their teammate,” he adds.

“More focus is going to be on that than what they do against other drivers because they’ve got the same car, the two of them.”

It’ll take only a little more scrutiny, a few more duels, a handful of points, to turn this peaceful picture of team harmony into a lively intrateam duel.

And if — when — that happens, Australia and England might finally get the motorsport feud it’s been missing all these years.

Just don’t call it the Ashes.

“Don’t start!” Croft says. “The rain saved you guys again in the T20 at the weekend. Absolutely appalling.”

Originally published as ‘World champ in the making’: F1 insider’s view on McLaren alpha battle as Piastri’s ceiling explodes