After an underwhelming decade of downhill journey, McLaren is set to rally a very young driver lineup for 2023. The team leader Lando Norris is 23 and the rookie Oscar Piastri is a few months younger than Fernando Alonso’s career. Trivia aside, the question that arises is how the young duo will fare against each other and who will come out at the top. BMW Motorsport works driver, Philipp Eng, evaluates what the upcoming season would be like for the Papaya lineup.

The Alpine drama surrounding Oscar Piastri has already made him the talk of the town. However, moving away from the drama that led to him getting a multiyear contract in place of fellow Australian, Daniel Ricciardo, Piastri may soon be facing a new challenger. The pundits have now begun pitting him against his much more experienced counterpart, Lando Norris. Not to scare the young rookie, but Lando has already proved his mettle when he constantly outperformed the 8x GP winner, Ricciardo. To add to Oscars’ miseries, the McLaren cars are not the easiest ones to drive either.

Philipp Eng said on Sport and Talk program, “The mental pressure is enormous. Everyone talks about him. Now he has to show strength. Because now he’s dealing with Lando Norris at McLaren, that’s a safe value, the Englishman drives consistently at a high level. I see the situation like this–if Piastri can hold his own against Norris in the first year, then everyone will know what Oscar is made of.”

But he added a caveat along with the praise, saying, “If things don’t go so well against Norris, it will be difficult for Piastri to maintain his great reputation.”

Read More: Only 1 Day at McLaren & Oscar Piastri Is Already $230K Richer

While the obvious course of things is that the experienced driver can outshine the newcomer, can Piastri take the exceptional route instead?

The Oscar Piastri threat to Lando Norris can be real

Alpine and McLaren, who were fighting to finish first in the midfield, also ended up going through a legal battle in 2022. The teams erupted in a feud trying to bag the rookie Oscar Piastri. With so much that has already happened around someone who hasn’t even begun his career in F1, the pressure is on. Not only on Piastri, but on Lando as well.

Philipp Eng said, “Piastri receives a lot of early praise. And when I look at how he drove through the junior series, like a hot knife through butter, then he’s got something on the box.”

Watch This Story: Best f1 Livery Designs of All-Time

Can Oscar Piastri live up to the hype? Can he showcase something unprecedented in McLaren in the upcoming season?