Emerson Fittipaldi is sure that Australian rookie Oscar Piastri will provide his more experienced McLaren teammate Lando Norris with something to think about this season.
It’s only two races since 21-year-old Piastri made his Formula 1 debut, albeit in a woefully under-par McLaren team in Bahrain and Jeddah, but Fittipaldi saw enough already: “I’ve been very impressed, especially at Jeddah, by Oscar Piastri.
“Under difficult situations, in a difficult car, he’s been there, driving very fast. To me he’s given a great show. I respect the other two rookies but I think Piastri is the one that’s going to come up big,”
“He will definitely push Lando. For sure. No doubt. Piastri is an extremely talented young driver and is in a very good team like McLaren. He’ll be running strong for sure. Lando won’t have an easy time with Piastri there.”
23-year-old Norris, of course, ‘destroyed’ Paistri’s fellow countryman Daniel Ricciardo last year, all but ending the big smiling Aussie’s career in the top flight, with Zak Brown paying him off to cut his deal by a year while snatching Piastri from Alpine.
Emerson: McLaren are in a difficult cycle but they can get of it
However, on the evidence of two races, Piastri chose a bad time to ditch his long-time backers Alpine (aka Renault) and defect to Woking where he found a McLaren team suddenly in disarray, hopelessly unprepared for the season and a dubious car for their drivers to toil with, amid one of the closest F1 midfield in ages.
Heading to Australia for Round 3 of the 2023 F1 World Championship, McLaren prop up the bottom of the F1 constructors’ championship with zero points, only AlphaTauri have not scored a point so far this year.
But Fittipaldi, who won five Grands Prix and the 1974 F1 title for McLaren, is confident the team will emerge from the slump: “They had a problem in qualifying. I think McLaren for sure has the experience, the right people behind to improve from grand prix to grand prix.”
“I see McLaren’s situation this year similar to Mercedes’ situation at the beginning of last year. They had a very disappointing start last year and then every grand prix they got better and better.”
“It is a cycle that can happen to any of the big teams. They are in a difficult cycle now but they have the potential, the human resources and the technical resources to come back strong,” predicted Fittipaldi. (Quotes supplied by MyNettingSitesUK)