Parc Ferme: McLaren’s new number 1?

Piastri's performance in Miami last weekend underlined why he is now, and not Lando Norris, the Woking-based team’s best bet for lifting the Formula 1 Drivers’ World Championship.

There’s been talk of the inevitable conflict between McLaren's two drivers for some while. Hardly surprising when they are acknowledged to be the strongest driver pairing on the F1 grid.

In its intense competitive arena, acrimony between teammates is never far below the surface. This is intensified when there is no clear sensei-student or Number One–Number Two delineation.

Add a potentially championship-winning car into the mix, and the level of discord starts to bounce off the limiter.

So far, Zak Brown has ostensibly managed to keep a lid on things. ‘Papaya rules’ have become a hackneyed expression, but in fairness, they appear to have preserved a level of détente between the two prodigious talents.

However, like all pressurized systems, they only work as long as the design holds up. The force within the McLaren container is now getting close to critical.

Papaya rules would probably have failed in any other team; however, ‘other teams’ don’t have Zak Brown. From the HR diagram, Zak appears to be a man without a portfolio at race weekends.

While Andrea Stella is on paper the Team Principal, the reality is that he only really takes care of the technical bits. The real team front man and hawker is Zak.

This seems to work well as Andrea appears to have little appetite for the dog and pony bits, whereas Brown is a natural born huckster.

More importantly, though, is the American’s adeptness at handling his people and drivers. The affable CEO is a rare commodity in the paddock—forthright, fair, and a man of his word; not a common trait in F1’s Machiavellian cauldron. However, even he will struggle to hold things “driver-wise” together as the season progresses.

Zak’s challenge is that they have two very fast drivers, but unfortunately, their individual speed lies in different parts of the competition.

Norris is quickest over one lap, and Piastri over many. This means that the best driver to pull off the win will more often start the race behind the one who is less likely to. Not ideal for avoiding Turn 1 contretemps!

For many, Lando started off the season as the F1 Drivers' Championship heir apparent. However, that status has now been usurped.

The statistics do not lie, and his young Aussie teammate is only likely to improve, whereas Norris is arguably starting to plateau.

The good news for Lando is that the game is not over yet. The bad news is that we can see the Piastri “rain clouds” gathering over his parade.

If not for the safety car gift in the sprint, he would have followed Oscar’s rear wing home twice over the weekend.

The time is fast approaching when Zak will have to declare privately, if not publicly, that Norris will be riding shotgun. Fortunately for McLaren, we know Zak Brown will do the right thing.