The travel plans of McLaren’s key guests in the pits were perfectly timed to coincide with the sudden and wondrous resurgence of the dinosaur racing team. Nicole and Chris Piastri, the parents of Formula 1 newcomer Oscar Piastri, made their way to Silverstone from Melbourne, Australia, to see their fast son at the British Grand Prix. They experienced him third at the start, which was a sensation, and fourth at the finish, which would have been celebrated as a triumph before the tenth round of the World Championship, but aroused bittersweet feelings at the end of the afternoon race.
Then there was a delegation from Bahrain’s royal family, who hold significant stakes in the British team, which is celebrating its 60th birthday this year. The investors booked their flight far more spontaneously than the Piastris booked their 17,000-kilometer journey – only on Saturday, after Lando Norris had raced to second place in qualifying. The Brit, who has long been regarded as the future hope of the racing nation should Lewis Hamilton ever resign, did not disappoint either the sponsors or the locals among the 160,000 spectators: he passed Max Verstappen right at the start and sniffed as the front runner for a few laps emission-free air before the Dutchman could use the full power of his Red Bull racing car. The jubilation was similarly great in the final phase of the Grand Prix, when Norris had to defend himself against Hamilton, who was driving on fresh tyres. Three thrilling attempts to attack and defend, and then Norris secured his second place and first podium at Silverstone, which in British motorsport’s terms is tantamount to an accolade.
In the ups and downs of Formula 1, which started behind Max Verstappen, a new color is involved: papaya. That’s the name of the orange that racing team founder Bruce McLaren chose in 1968 to stand out from the rest. Norris contributed a fisherman’s hat, bathed in bright neon, in a less tasteful way for his own merchandising shop. It doesn’t get more flashy than this, and it fits in with the trend of the recently overhauled MCL 60: Fourth on debut in Austria, now second in Central England. McLaren’s last world title was 15 years ago, it was Hamilton’s first. After that: Alternating hope and despair, including a crash on the penultimate place. After the upswing, McLaren is now fifth. Still a long way from Ferrari, but ahead of the French factory team from Alpine. At the upcoming circuits and with hotter temperatures, McLaren must prove that the team is ready for a breakthrough. But our own history offers a cautionary tale.
In Monza 2021 there was a double success – after that it went step by step backwards instead of forwards. In fast and medium-speed corners, the McLaren is a top car, but in slow corners it’s still a laggard. Hamilton still considers the competing product to be a “rocket”, and Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff admits in view of the still unstable Silver Arrow: “Chapeau! You need the right ideas, but they have to work on the car.”
“Chapeau!” – Of course, the praise from Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff is not so much for Lando Norris’ neon hat, but for the improvements that McLaren have made to his car.
(Photo: Peter Fox/Getty)
The plan of Zak Brown, the American at the head of a deeply British racing company, extends far beyond a seasonal interim high. After the departure of the German team boss Andreas Seidl, owner Brown radically restructured the structures to form the future Audi team Sauber. Technical director James Key had to go and follows Seidl; The Italian Andrea Stella now has all the power. And the former Ferrari man is broadening the lead. A whole group of engineers is driving the change. Above all, aerodynamicist Peter Prodromou, who perfected his craft at Red Bull. From the industry leader comes the next top man, chief engineer Rob Marshall, at the end of the year.
Stella is passionately sober, a technician as a strategist: “We want to work differently than the others,” says the 52-year-old. “I’m focused on doing the right things, creating a vision for the team and making sure everyone understands it.”
Norris’ boyish charm brings vibrancy to McLaren
Rumor has it in the paddock that the new McLaren is a spitting image of Adrian Newey’s highly successful Red Bull Racing car creation. That is the general bad luck of all trendsetters, because Formula 1 is always a frantic copy shop. But as I said: For Brown it should only be a starting point for his own empire. He’s undeterred and of course there’s the competition with Aston Martin, this season’s other surprise. Max Verstappen is warned, although his team has won all races so far, ten out of ten, and he has won the last six in a row. “The competitors behind us put pressure on the development and closed the gap, so we have to try to find a little more,” says the Dutchman, whose only weak point is occasionally the starts, which Lando Norris also coldly exploited.
Even at 23, racing drivers can still indulge in memories. The second, celebrated like a winner, recalled in 2007 when he saw how hard McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso fought for the top at Silverstone: “That I’m now in the same team in the same position in the same place in the same situation is something special. It makes me very proud,” Norris said on Sunday.
As far as pride goes, he’s definitely on the right team. But with his boyish charm, he ensures liveliness in Woking’s future factory. Norris is considered a joker among Formula 1 drivers, is a declared Instagram swarm and openly admits that he had a racing heart when stepping onto the podium. He knew, of course, that he wouldn’t be able to stand up to Verstappen on the slopes for long, but he also knew that the whole world (except for the Netherlands) would bet on him. He took the chance to present himself. He is now believed to have a greater future than that of Ferrari pupil Charles Leclerc. With a look at Hamilton next to him, he speaks of an honor, but the compatriot also serves as a perspective example, keyword generational duel. Norris says, “I want to write my own story.”