Ahead of the Miami Grand Prix last week, Lando Norris suggested he was not a great believer in momentum.
One wonders whether he has since changed in mind after watching teammate Oscar Piastri clinch a third consecutive win.
With four victories in six races this season, the Australian is firmly in charge of the title race as he leads Norris and Max Verstappen by 16 and 32 points respectively, with George Russell 38 points adrift.
In Miami, Norris started the weekend on the front foot, winning the sprint race and qualifying second for the Grand Prix.
Conversely, Piastri was left to rue a Virtual Safety Car that cost him the sprint race and qualified fourth for the race.
His luck changed into Turn 1 as pole-sitter Verstappen and Norris went wheel-to-wheel, with the latter dropping back four places after being run off the track by his rival.
The Briton took exception to the four-time world champion’s aggressive approach, suggesting Verstappen was in danger of ruining his own race from the start.
“He’s fighting hard, but it’s up to him to do that,” he said.
“He’s ruining his own race. He’s not racing very smart.”
Norris’ loss was Piastri’s gain, who swept past Kimi Antonelli and then set about chasing down Verstappen.
The Australian was on the Red Bull’s tail on Lap 8, which marked the start of a thrilling six-lap duel with Verstappen.
The four-time world champion repeatedly defended the inside line leaving his rival no room to make a move on the outside, before Piastri eventually took the lead on Lap 14 as the Dutchman went in too deep at Turn 1.
Piastri then made the clean air count as he easily pulled away from the Red Bull and built a significant gap over Norris by the time his teammate had overtaken Verstappen on Lap 18.
McLaren’s double-stack pit-stops left Piastri comfortably ahead and while Norris closed the gap to four seconds, his first place was never in danger.
“It was tough at the beginning trying to get past Max. I tried pretty hard to get past, with everything still on my car,” Piastri said after the race.
“It was not easy but I picked my moments when I needed to.
“It was a matter of just biding my time, waiting for a moment, or forcing him into a moment. That’s what I was able to do. Once I got past, I knew I had to try and build a gap while Lando was behind him. That got me the win.”
The 24-year-old is now the first McLaren driver to win three consecutive races since Mika Hakkinen won the final Grand Prix of the 1997 season and the first two races of the following campaign.
In only his third year in Formula 1, Piastri has developed into a formidable competitor, which gives McLaren a decision to make.
Can McLaren avoid a repeat of last season?
The Papaya allowed its drivers to race last season until the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, when it announce it would prioritize Norris over Piastri.
At the time, the Briton was 62 points behind Vestappen, with his teammate 44 points further adrift.
The decision came after a controversial series of incidents in which the two McLaren drivers had raced themselves as much as their rivals.
At the Hungarian Grand Prix in August, Norris’ race engineer, Will Joseph, pleaded with him to relinquish his position to allow Piastri through after a tactical blunder had left the Australian in second place behind the other McLaren.
After 17 excruciating laps, Norris reluctantly agreed but the incident took the shine off Piastri’s maiden Formula 1 win and McLaren’s first one-two finish in three years.
At the Italian Grand Prix in Monza a month later, Norris again took pole position ahead of Piastri, only to be again overtaken by the Australian on the opening lap.
The move allowed Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to slip in between the two McLarens and ultimately win the race, ahead of Piastri and Norris.
The Briton ultimately lost the title to Verstappen by 63 points and his team’s questionable decision-making played a part in him falling short.
Norris started the season as the Papaya’s No1 driver, but with Piastri winning four of the opening six races it appears clear the latter is no longer happy to be his teammate’s understudy.
In turn, that puts pressure on McLaren, which has comfortably been the fastest car on the grid so far and leads the constructors’ standings by 105 points over Mercedes.
Red Bull, whom Verstappen admitted was “miles away from competing for a win” in Miami, is already 141 points behind McLaren.
Oscar Piastri is no longer Lando Norris’ No2
Expecting the Australian to forfeit his title dreams after such a stunning start to the season is a ridiculous proposition, much as asking Norris to cast aside his championship ambitions to protect Piastri risks damaging the team’s delicate dynamics.
The counterargument is that by allowing its drivers to race each other McLaren risks dropping points, which admittedly was not the case in Miami.
In that respect, it was telling that team principal Andrea Stella suggested Norris could have avoided his coming together with Verstappen had he been more patient.
“It could have been better for Lando to just lift and make sure that he could keep the second position,” he said of the contact at Turn 1.
“Because the car, again, with the benefit of hindsight, we see that he was very fast and he would certainly have passed Max, like Oscar, and then later Lando was in condition to do.
“So I think like every situation in racing, you have to approach with the mindset of reviewing where the opportunities lie. And I think in this case, Lando could have been a little bit more patient.”
Patience will be the name of the game this year for McLaren, who has so far lived up to its tag of pre-season favorite.
After winning a first constructors’ championship in 26 years last season, ending an 18-year wait for a first drivers’ title may finally be on the cards.
Who between Piastri and Norris will be the man to do so, remains less clear.
