Many predicted that Piastri, with pretty much a year out of the cockpit, would have his work cut-out against Norris but, coming into last weekend, although Norris led their qualifying head-to-head 5-1, the delta between the pair over the opening six races was actually the closest across the entire grid, at just 0.07sec.
Okay, it’s skewed slightly by Norris’s Q1 clipping of the wall in Jeddah, but even so that’s impressive from Piastri. Monaco, in particular, underlined it when Oscar sensibly built up to it over the weekend before ultimately qualifying within a couple of hundredths of Lando, then raced impressively too.
Over at AlphaTauri, Nyck De Vries is also 5-1 down against Yuki Tsunoda, the delta there being 0.26sec. Talking about that in Spain, team boss Franz Tost articulated just how tough the early season is for rookies: “It’s difficult for them to learn fast because some of the tracks – Saudi, Melbourne, Miami – they don’t even know. And it’s even tougher if the car’s not performing well.” Nobody seems to have told Piastri.
It prompted me to think back to the last time a rookie with junior credentials as strong as Piastri’s came into F1 against a recognised front-runner. That was Lewis Hamilton against Fernando Alonso in ’07 when, in deep contrast to the present, there was almost limitless between-race testing. For the record, after six races Lewis was 4-2 down versus Fernando, with an average qualifying deficit of 0.13sec, so Oscar is doing just fine!
Hamilton was also close on qualifying speed to his McLaren team-mate Alonso in debut year – but not as close as Piastri to Norris
Grand Prix Photo
But, bursting the bubble a bit, the reason the two McLarens were the quickest cars on the track in the wet phase of the Monte Carlo race, had its root in their ability to generate tyre temperature and hence grip, a familiar McLaren trait these past few seasons. It was the same characteristic that allowed Norris to get the tyres in and qualify on the second row in Barcelona with hard compound rubber and low track temperature. McLaren fans shouldn’t get too excited just yet. It was conditions-specific, didn’t translate in the race and is unlikely to repeat in forthcoming races, although Montreal can be a bit nippy.
This weekend in Montreal though should give a much clearer picture of whether teams’ respective technical changes have worked and what the current competitive order is.
The Mercedes pace from its upgraded W14 was another surprise, the car comprehensively outpacing Aston Martin and Ferrari in the race. George Russell was one of those who didn’t get his tyres in during qualifying but drove a fabulous race to finish on the podium behind the peerless Verstappen and yteam mate Hamilton. Coming into the weekend, George was targeting runner-up spot in the constructors’ championship, which is where Toto Wolff’s troops now find themselves. But, before action began, Russell was cautioning against reading too much into Barcelona. Remember last year, he pointed out, when he’d finished on the podium while Lewis drove a ballistic race from the back after a puncture. They left thinking they’d cracked it, but were wrong.
All that said, if Mercedes is once again heading the Red Bull chase in Montreal, you’re likely to see much bigger smiles on the drivers and crew.