Our review of how all ten F1 teams fared in 2023 continues with a look at McLaren and drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
Terrible start and a near miraculous rise to the top
The team picture
- Constructors standing: P4, 302 points
McLaren suffered a terrible start to the season, with no points from either Lando Norris or rookie recruit Oscar Piastri in the first two rounds. A pile-up during a late restart in Australia allowed them to pick up 12 points in Melbourne, but it remained hard work and heavy going over the next few races. After Canada they were still just sixth in the standings on a meagre 17 points compared with 154 for Aston Martin.
New McLaren principal Andrea Stella admitted that the team had missed a key exploit in the new regulations that had come into effect at the start of the season, but he didn't panic. By Austria the team had upgrades to address the oversight, and suddenly it was like a different team had found its way onto the grid under papaya camouflage. Over the course of the summer and autumn they blazed their way to fourth in the standings, now 22 points ahead of Aston Martin. If it hadn't been for those early problems, McLaren might have ended the year as the second best team on the grid after Red Bull. Quite remarkable!
The driver line-up
- Lando Norris: P6, 205 points
- Oscar Piastri: P9, 97 points
Sometimes you compare the final points standings between team mates and think, "That can't be right," and that was the reaction we had when we saw a 108 point difference between Lando Norris and his new team mate Oscar Piastri. Surely the rookie had done better than that? But Norris' greater experience and consistency enabled him to pile on the points and pull ahead while Piastri was still learning the ropes and making the inevitable newbie errors. Expect the balance to be a lot closer in 2024.
As it is, Norris out-qualified Piastri 15-7 and went on to beat his team mate in 17 of the 22 races with seven podiums compared to two for the young Aussie. But Piastri was particularly strong at Spa where he was runner-up in the sprint race behind Max Verstappen, and he went even better when he subsequently took pole for and then won the Qatar sprint. Norris was also on the podium in two out of the six sprint races. The only thing lacking from the team's 2023 record was a Grand Prix race win, and with Red Bull in such searing form it's no wonder that neither Norris nor Piastri could pull that off - this year, at least.
How 2024 is looking for McLaren
At the start of season, all the focus in the paddock was about marvelling at how well Aston Martin was doing. If McLaren was mentioned at all it was to lament how badly they were performing by comparison. And then after Austria the tables were turned and McLaren ended the year as the big success story while Aston faded away on the sidelines. Piastri had a strong rookie season, and now looks set to be one half of one of F1's most exciting driver-line-ups for 2024.
The team's ability to make major upgrades during the season was testament to Stella keeping his head in the face of adversity early on. Now he needs to apply the same coolness to ensuring that McLaren don't go off the rails again over the winter, and start the new season at the same level they finished this one. If they can then there's no reason why they can't be vying with Mercedes and Ferrari to be the best of the rest after Red Bull: we think it could be a really tight and entertaining battle.
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