Zak Brown claims rookie Oscar Piastri kept ‘Lando Norris on his toes’ in 2023

McLaren was able to finish the 2023 F1 season in fourth place courtesy of the efforts of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

Zak Brown claims rookie Oscar Piastri kept ‘Lando Norris on his toes’ in 2023

Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris and Zak Brown (Via IMAGO)

The 2023 F1 season has become a thing of the past but out of it, quite a few storylines have emerged. One such intriguing tussle is the one that took place between the McLaren drivers, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. The latter despite being in his rookie campaign, was able to take the fight to a well-established driver like Norris.

The McLaren team principal, Zak Brown is immensely pleased with what Oscar Piastri was able to do against Lando Norris. He firmly believes that the Brit did not have much competition before the young Australian’s arrival and is glad that Piastri is giving a hard time to Norris. McLaren responding to the impressive performance of the rookie has already given him a new multi-year contract. While shedding light on the Piastri’s performance against Lando in detail, Brown told RaceFans;

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Lando hadn’t been challenged by his teammate in the last couple of years on a regular basis. But I think Oscar’s keeping Lando on his toes. I think the benefit is they like a very similar race car so we’re getting constant, consistent feedback from the two.

Looking at the reaction of the 52-year-old, it is quite clear that he is on cloud 9 with what Piastri was able to do during the 2023 F1 season. Moreover, has admitted that both McLaren drivers prefer similar setups which helps immensely in getting consistent feedback from both.

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Oscar Piastri is contracted to Red Bull until the end of 2026

While Zak Brown has left no stone unturned in applauding Oscar Piastri for the job he did in his rookie F1 campaign, he has also been very smart playing his cards. Norris is contracted until the end of 2025 and considering this, Brown extended Piastri’s contract until the end of 2026 during this year’s campaign.

Oscar Piastri (Credits: Autsport)
Oscar Piastri (Credits: Autsport)

Brown is fully aware that he has hit a goldmine with his current drivers and thus, does not want to lose both of them in one go. Norris has a lot of interest in him from the Red Bull F1 team and they will surely try to get him from 2026 onward. Moreover, keeping in view the season Piastri had, he has also started amassing immense attention.

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are undoubtedly one of the best driver pairings on the current F1 grid. They showed what they can do as a driver pairing during the 2023 F1 season and going ahead, Zak Brown will expect much of the same from both of his drivers.

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