McLaren’s former high performance coach has rejected ‘conspiracy theories’ about Lando Norris’ recent surge ahead of Oscar Piastri, but another F1 expert has stated it’s “very clear” that McLaren made recent changes that better favour Norris. Piastri was way ahead in the championship at the halfway point of the F1 season, but Norris has now taken a one-point lead with four races remaining.
Piastri has struggled ever since McLaren clinched the constructors’ championship, while Norris has thrived and been much quicker. It’s a stark contrast to what was occurring early in the season, and it’s sparked questions about whether McLaren has ‘sabotaged’ Piastri to try and get their No.1 driver (Norris) a world title.
Norris won the Mexico Grand Prix by a mile on Sunday, and Piastri once again struggled to fifth. It saw Norris overtake Piastri in the championship for the first time in months.
Lando Norris has surged ahead of Oscar Piastri in the F1 championship. Image: Getty
But according to Kim Keedle, who was McLaren’s high performance coach until this year, nothing untoward is going on. According to Keedle, it’s simply the realities of F1 that cars and circumstances change throughout a season.
“There are always swings and roundabouts in F1,” Keedle said on SEN radio. “They’re both strong drivers and Norris fighting back was expected. We have come off a few races that are not Oscar’s strengths, but he will be fine. It’s not easy to win a championship. I’m confident he will get it done.
“I know how McLaren operates and they have handled this well internally. I understand how it might look suspicious externally.
“The difficult thing with F1 (is that) throughout the season there is so much development going on. At the start (of the season) McLaren was the fastest car and Red Bull have caught up. Mercedes and Ferrari come in and have their strong races too. Throw in some maybe lost confidence and poor races for Oscar. I don’t buy into the conspiracy theories, I think its all above board and fair.”
McLaren have made technical changes that favour Lando Norris better than Oscar Piastri. (Photo by Hector Vivas/Getty Images)
F1 expert calls out ‘very clear’ change from McLaren
Veteran Aussie broadcaster Gerard Whateley stated on Monday it’s hard not to feel like Piastri has been ‘nobbled’ by his own team. And according to F1 expert Cameron van den Dungen, McLaren have made a “very clear” decision to switch to a car that better suits Norris.
With Max Verstappen surging back into contention, McLaren felt they couldn’t sit on their hands and let the Red Bull driver overtake them. But the changes they made have been harder to adapt to for Piastri compared to his teammate.
“The reality is they’ve very clearly put all of their technical eggs into the basket of a car that works for Lando Norris,” said van den Dungen on SEN. “Cars and drivers have to match and it’s critically important to build a car around a certain driving style.
“When you have two drivers who are your No.1 drivers, that’s when you have some technical challenges when they have different styles. For example, Max Verstappen likes a car that’s really lively on the front wheel, which can make it a bit unstable in the rear. And no-one else likes a car that’s set up like Max Verstappen does. So Red Bull sets it up for him and every one of his co-drivers cannot drive the thing.
“McLaren have had a car that works for Oscar all year, but on the most recent upgrades and changes they’ve very clearly built a car that works for Lando, but not for Oscar. So the challenge for Oscar now is to adapt to the style that’s needed, but he wasn’t able to do it in the last two races.”
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Van den Dungen said the locations of the next races should theoretically suit Piastri better, as he’s never performed well in America and Mexico. Piastri admitted after Mexico: “I’ve got to drive the car very differently these last couple of weekends, which when it’s been working well for you for the previous 18 [races] is a little bit difficult to kind of wrap your head around. We tried a few things today and we’ll have a look if that’s what we were looking for.”