Lando Norris, left, and Oscar Piastri are dominating F1 racing this year. Photo / Getty
McLaren F1 driver Oscar Piastri’s 34-point lead in the race for the title has evaporated over the past five races and turned into a one-point deficit to his teammate Lando Norris.
Many outside observers have been coming up with a myriad of machinations for the Australian driver’s predicament. Going from scoring 14 podiums in the first 16 races this season to a four-race record of not finishing inside the top three sure has got the conspiracy theorists running hot, especially the Australians.
There’s been everything from McLaren sabotaging his car, team orders to prioritise Norris, chief executive Zak Brown wants a Brit to win the world title, Norris only gets the good upgrades, Piastri is leaving for Ferrari, and deliberately slow pitstops.
Bob McMurray spent 33 years with the McLaren F1 team and knows intimately how a big motorsport team works, and he’s having none of the conspiracy theory and the oft-mentioned “sources close to” rubbish.
“McLaren had been very, very fair and I think they’re being criticised for being very fair from people who don’t understand the situation,” said McMurray.
“They have tried really hard to make sure it’s fair for both drivers. McLaren is one of the few teams who make upgrades available to both drivers at the same time. For example, they can choose which nose cone to use. Other teams give only one driver the upgrades first.
“I can’t believe some people think there’s an engineer, mechanic or pit crew member who is messing with Piastri’s car. There are hundreds of people in and around the garage and if someone was trying to nobble his car the rumours would be up and down pit lane in five minutes.
“Believe me, it’s impossible in a team of 100 people for somebody to do something against one car and not for 99 other people to know about it within a second, because all the telemetry is there for everybody to see.”
Another very good point McMurray makes is that if by some weird and wonderful chance Piastri is being nobbled by his own team, his manager Mark Webber wouldn’t be backward in coming forward. Webber himself was allegedly on the receiving of some shenanigans during his time in F1.
“Another thing you might want to notice is that Mark Webber has been remarkable by his silence. If things were going on, Webber would be crying from the rooftops.
“With his experience in the sport he would be the first one to be jumping up and down. You’d hear from him within five minutes. It may not be from him personally, but it possibly would be through the nearest Australian journalist saying something was up,” he said.
A rather obvious reason to those who have more than a passing interest and know a fair bit about motorsport will have noticed Piastri and Norris have different driving styles. At the beginning of the season the tracks were high-grip and suited Piastri’s style of late braking and a bigger turn-in. The last couple of tracks have been low-grip allowing the car to slide more, which plays into Norris’ driving style. It’s not rocket science.
“I think you can put Piastri’s drop off on Baku. I think that shook him up a little bit and he’s lost a bit of confidence,” said McMurray.
“I also think Norris has got himself into a bit of a headspace where he thinks he can do this [win the title] and he’s driving better.
“Also, you’ve got this thing that they may have upgraded the car a little bit and it’s a little bit more difficult for Piastri to drive. If that’s the case on a slippery track, well, that’s just the way the cards drop. They can’t not upgrade a car to make it faster.
“If one driver doesn’t like it, well, tough because the other one does. I think they’re [McLaren] being a little unfairly judged by people who really might not understand the situation within the team and what they’re trying to achieve.”
So, there you have, it’s just motorsport. With Max Verstappen now within striking distance of both Piastri and Norris the remaining four races of the season are going to be very interesting indeed starting November 9 at the Brazilian Grand Prix.