Piers Thynne suggests that Lando Norris is ahead of Oscar Piastri, but both are world title contenders. Piers Thynne, McLaren's COO, expressed confidence in both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

Champions at McLaren
In almost twenty years of experience at McLaren, the team’s Chief Operating Officer, Piers Thynne, has worked with three drivers who became world champions. Joining the team in 2008, that very season ended with Lewis Hamilton’s last-minute title win, alongside a two-time world champion like Fernando Alonso. From 2010 to 2016, Piers Thynne also worked closely with Jenson Button, who had won the title in 2009 driving for Brawn GP.

The team today
McLaren’s competitiveness increased during the past season, as shown by their first Constructors’ Championship win since 1998. Now, judging by the first five Grands Prix, the team not only leads the Teams’ standings but also the Drivers’, with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris appearing as the top candidates for the title. As a guest on the Beyond the Grid podcast, Piers Thynne was asked a clear question: are there traits in these two drivers that could in some way be compared to those of McLaren’s last world champions?

Slightly different experience
According to the Chief Operating Officer, both Piastri and Norris have all the qualities needed to reach the highest goals, noting only a small difference between the two: “I think they are following slightly different trajectories,” he explained to F1’s official channel. “Lando is a bit further along in his career than Oscar, but both have all the necessary qualities to win races and world championships, and as a team, we are trying to ensure that we provide them with the right infrastructure, equipment, materials, and strategy to succeed 24 times a year.”

The new F1
Thynne did, however, note real differences between the Formula 1 of his early years at McLaren and today’s, with cars and races more complex to manage, as well as a different kind of preparation: “The product they are driving is quite different,” he added. “I believe the time window for the car to perform at its best is extremely narrow, the complexity level of driving has undoubtedly increased, and we are seeing a younger community evolving from virtual racing, thus adapting easily to a Formula 1 car. For this reason, we are seeing several high-level drivers using it as a development tool to continue improving. The intensity of the races is quite different, and we pay a lot of attention to how we organize our time, because the number of activities can be quite demanding, and we try to find the right balance to support them in every way possible. We want to focus on the commercial aspect and, above all, on performance to achieve this balance.”