Becoming a Formula 1 world champion is one of the most difficult tasks in the world of motorsport and the sport’s recent history has been denied by eras where only one driver has ever been in contention.
Max Verstappen has been unstoppable since his dramatic victory in 2021 and looks set to win a fourth title on the bounce this year.
Before him, Lewis Hamilton was the man to beat and Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher all had periods in F1 where they were completely dominant.
Speaking on the Beyond The Grid Podcast, McLaren team principal Zak Brown was talking about his current pair of drivers.
After 110 races, Lando Norris finally ended his long wait to earn his first Grand Prix win and is one of the fastest drivers on the grid.
However, Brown has suggested that his teammate Oscar Piastri is a future Formula 1 world champion despite having never won an official Grand Prix.
His performance in the Sprint Race in Qatar last year where he led Verstappen over the line to secure his first victory highlighted his immense potential.
Considering he still hasn’t raced in 30 Grand Prix, he’s got up to speed extremely quickly and appears to be one of the highest potential drivers on the grid.
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McLaren boss Zak Brown thinks Oscar Piastri is a future F1 world champion
At the beginning of the Miami Grand Prix, there was only one McLaren driver who appeared to be in contention to win the race.
Sergio Perez’s dive bomb down the inside of turn one nearly took out his teammate and both Ferrari drivers, opening up a gap for the Australian.
He managed to move up to 3 place before quickly overtaking Charles Leclerc.
While he couldn’t close the gap to Verstappen, he looked in a very strong position to score his first podium of the season.
Unfortunately, he was undercut by Leclerc in the pit stops and narrowly missed out on pitting behind the safety car with Norris the biggest beneficiary of looking after his tyres.
He then had a fierce battle with Carlos Sainz and the Spaniard picked up a five-second penalty after they made contact heading into turn 17.
That will be scant consolation to Piastri, who had to pit for a new front wing and could only climb back up to 13, although he did secure the fastest lap.
Piastri had to watch on as Norris won his first Grand Prix, and while Mark Webber described his performance as ‘totally magical’, he’ll still be somewhat frustrated.
Brown has urged Piastri to be patient and believes that he’s got the potential to be a future world champion.
He’ll need the right car to achieve that feat and to find a way to beat his teammate who is quickly improving on a weekly basis.
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Oscar Piastri one of F1’s most exciting drivers
Talking about his driver line-up, Brown said: “It’s tough, you see the grid goes up and down, but we’re just going to keep our head down and keep pushing forward.
“I think ending up with the driver line-up that we have is something that I’m quite proud about especially when you see what’s going on with a lot of the other teams and how destabilised some are and the driver movement.
“I think to have Lando [Norris], kind of brought him in before he had his driver’s license and now he’s a constant front runner.
“And Oscar [Piastri], who’s clearly a future world champion and to have the personalities of our two drivers, we’ve got two nice guys.”
Piastri will be glad to hear that Brown has enough faith in him that he believes he could be a future world champion.
He’s been described as having a similar trait to Michael Schumacher which is no bad thing when it comes to winning titles.
There are question marks about Piastri’s driving style and his tyre management in races, although that wasn’t an issue in Miami on this occasion.
The post ‘Clearly’: 0-win Formula 1 driver now told by his team principal that he’s a ‘future world champion’ appeared first on F1 Oversteer.