Most perfect F1 driver partnership named as Ralf Schumacher explains his theory

28 July 2023 , 05:00

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Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are showing strong form in a rejuvinated McLaren team (Image: Getty Images)

McLaren have the ideal Formula 1 driver partnership at their disposal, in the view of Ralf Schumacher.

Lando Norris is in his fifth season with the team and will make his 100th F1 race start later this year. And he is joined these days by rookie Oscar Piastri, who has been turning heads with his performances so far.

The team started the year poorly and was struggling to fight for even the small points. But a recent raft of upgrades has propelled McLaren up the pecking order.

It means Norris and Piastri now have the car underneath them to show their full potential – and they are doing just that. The Brit scored back-to-back podiums for the first time in his F1 career at Silverstone and in Hungary, while Piastri also finished in the top five in both those races.

Six-time F1 racer winner Schumacher has been impressed by them both individually. And, together, he feels they have the ideal balance to develop themselves further and propel the team forward.

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"Both have a competitor in the team who challenges them directly," he told Sky Germany. "But it's a healthy way of dealing with each other. The big advantage is that they both need the same thing. Accordingly, the team can develop excellently together with these two."

Norris was cautious to get too excited about his car after strong results in Austria and at Silverstone, as those were track which suited the MCL60. But another strong outing at the Hungaroring last weekend was cause for the Brit to finally start publicly admitting that his team is now right in the fight.

"It was successful because of a good load of points compared to those who were our competitors, but who now aren't our competitors," he said after that Budapest race. "We've got new competitors which is a good sign. A strong qualifying yesterday made everything feel very good. It was a tricky but a decent race from both of us today."

McLaren's upgrades to the MCL60 have unlocked a significant amount of pace (AP)

And Piastri was also happy to make a similar declaration, adding: "Two cars in the top five in a hot race like that, I think that was one of our nightmares having conditions like that at the start of the year, so I think we're in a pretty good spot. We can be confident in most places we go now. Thanks for the support and hopefully this is our normal weekend report now."

But Norris is still not wholly satisfied with his situation, adding: "The car still doesn't handle anywhere like what I would want from a car. If you said what do you need from a perfect car, I feel like it's really far away from what I want. But it's head is a little bit in that direction, which is a good thing for me – it's how I want to be able to drive and push the car. It has improved my confidence, I guess.

"We had a car which was inconsistent, I didn't know even last year at times. Even last year when we looked good and I looked confident, there's still plenty of times last year when I had no idea how to drive the car. I would come in and they would say, 'What's the problem?' From one lap to another it just changes and I don't know how to improve, and so on.

"Now, I feel like it's a slightly clearer direction that I need to be working in which is a good thing. I can just focus on more simple things with my driving and little things like this to help be here today. So it improved my confidence quite a bit. Not to the level that I still want, but to go out and drive how I want and feel confident and just drive freely and not have to think about it too much. It makes a big difference."

Daniel Moxon