McLaren boss earmarks star man as WORLD CHAMPION material
McLaren boss earmarks star man as WORLD CHAMPION material
McLaren team boss Zak Brown has suggested that Oscar Piastri has what it takes to be a world champion.
McLaren have had an under-performing car for much of this season, but have taken huge steps to close the gap on their podium-position competitors in recent races, and rookie Piastri has really shone.
In Piastri and Lando Norris, McLaren have one of the most envied driver lineups on the grid, and are desperate now for a car that can take them to race wins and turn them into potential world champions.
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Whilst it is usually Norris who gets touted for future world championships, Brown has said that he sees a world champion in Piastri too.
"Drivers that have the potential to become world championship material, they need to have a natural speed which we saw straight away," he told the media including GP Fans.
"Then they need to have the mental capacity, and capability to use their talent. Which in a way Oscar establishes in an interesting way.
"As the car became more competitive, it became clearer that he could compete at the top of Formula 1. We saw this straight away in testing and then in the early races of the season."
Piastri and Norris set for future world championship battles?
The problem for McLaren will be whether or not they can keep the pair together in time for them to have a car that's capable of winning a world championship.
Brown has earmarked 2026 as the year for McLaren, with new regulation changes expected to mix things up a bit amongst the highest performing teams.
However, Norris is only contracted until the end of 2025, when Mercedes will likely be looking for a replacement for Lewis Hamilton, whilst Piastri's contract is up at the end of 2024, when Red Bull might potentially be looking to replace Sergio Perez.
Whether or not McLaren can keep Piastri remains to be seen, but the Australian continues to impress in his debut season.
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F1 Standings
Drivers
- Charles Leclerc
- Carlos Sainz
- Lando Norris
- Oscar Piastri
- Pierre Gasly
- Esteban Ocon
- Sergio Pérez
- Max Verstappen
- Alexander Albon
- Logan Sargeant
- Lewis Hamilton
- George Russell
- Nico Hülkenberg
- Kevin Magnussen
- Fernando Alonso
- Lance Stroll
- Valtteri Bottas
- Zhou Guanyu
- Nyck De Vries
- Liam Lawson
- Daniel Ricciardo
- Yuki Tsunoda
Races
- Gulf Air Grand Prix of Bahrain 2023
- Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2023
- Grand Prix of Australia 2023
- Grand Prix of China 2023
- Grand Prix of Azerbaijan 2023
- Miami Grand Prix 2023
- Qatar Airways Gran Premio Del Made In Italy E Dell'emilia Romagna 2023
- Grand Prix of Monaco 2023
- AWS Gran Premio de España 2023
- Grand Prix du Canada 2023
- Grand Prix of Austria 2023
- Aramco Grand Prix of Great Britain 2023
- Grand Prix of Hungary 2023
- Grand Prix of Belgium 2023
- Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2023
- Grand Prix of Italy 2023
- Grand Prix of Singapore 2023
- Grand Prix of Japan 2023
- Qatar Grand Prix 2023
- Grand Prix of the United States 2023
- Gran Premio de la Ciudad de Mexico 2023
- Rolex Grande Prêmio de São Paulo 2023
- Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix 2023
- Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi 2023
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