Few Formula 1 debutants have had the privilege of the lightning start that Oscar Piastri has had so far. After denouncing Alpine’s announcement before the 2023 season, Piastri was hoping his bet on McLaren would pay off. When the season started, however, things were not looking great for the Woking outfit. They had been struggling ever since the opener in Bahrain, but the summer break would make the tides turn.

The hard work done by the team back at the factory allowed Norris to outscore Perez on numerous occasions since the summer break. The difference between McLaren’s updated challenger and Piastri’s old reliable was night and day! Norris lapped the Australian at the Red Bull Ring, solidifying McLaren’s newfound pace. Although Oscar Piastri was missing out on this action, the upgrades eventually arrived for the patient rookie.

McLaren gives Oscar Piastri immense “confidence for the future”

Oscar Piastri reflected on the impressive work Stella has done to turn things around at McLaren. He commended the team on their efforts ahead of the Brazilian GP, “I’ve got full confidence in the team with what we’ve been able to achieve this year. For me, having upgrades to a car was quite a new thing,” With the ‘B car’ approach, McLaren chose to upgrade Norris’ MCL60, while rookie Piastri got the upgrades later once proven on track by McLaren’s senior man.

This strategy worked out brilliantly for the Papaya team. The upgrades were an unfamiliar occurrence for Piastri in lower Formula, given that the series runs spec cars. He added, “because that wasn’t something I had in the junior categories.”

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While Lando Norris scored the podium that initiated McLaren’s momentum at the Singapore GP, Piastri would have to wait until the next race. Solidifying McLaren’s upgrades, the Papaya duo delivered a podium lock-out, with Piastri scoring a podium just behind Norris! This is when the Australian found his footing and catapulted his MCL60 to a sprint race win at the Qatar GP.

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He followed this result on Sunday, finishing second at the checkered flag behind Max Verstappen. Now that he had the same machinery as Norris, the rookie was out-classing Lando Norris already! He reflected on the mega-job the Woking outfit has done so far, “Everything we’ve put on the car has worked as well as we’ve hoped, and it’s done exactly what we expected it to. It gives me a lot of confidence for the future”. 

Will Andrea Stella lead the Papaya Army to victory in 2024?

Piastri spent no time getting up to speed with Norris, sparking an intense teammate rivalry that McLaren could have never imagined before the season had started. Not only were the two giving each other a run for their money, but the entire grid was crumbling under the MCL60’s revival!

While it’s evident that Oscar Piastri has outdone himself in his rookie season, the humble Australian praised the man behind McLaren’s newfound success, Andrea Stella. The Italian has a brilliant track record in F1 and became McLaren’s head of race operations in 2015. Since then, he has made his way up the ranks, staying loyal to the Woking outfit. Things would take another twist for Stella when Andreas Seidl announced his plans to work on the Audi-Sauber project. It left Zak Brown with one clear candidate for the position, Andrea Stella.

It’s no wonder that McLaren is now looking to be a formidable force in 2024. They are already beating Ferrari and Mercedes regularly on pace, and are not too far away from Red Bull on their strong days. All the things that are required to win a championship have been falling into place at McLaren. With the lethal combination of Piastri and Norris that even reigning champ Verstappen fears, the Papaya Army is heading into an exciting winter!

WATCH THIS STORY | How Oscar Piastri Has Made a Scintillating Rise to the Pinnacle of Motorsport

If McLaren can keep its foot down in the development race throughout the winter season, the 2024 season-opener will be a completely different story from this year. However, McLaren cannot ignore the intensity of the Piastri-Norris pairing. After all, driver rivalries have cost McLaren heavily in the past. Will the Woking Outfit learn from previous mistakes and begin a new era as a front-runner?