2023-09-24 09:29:00
ESPN.comSep 24, 2023, 05:29 ETLreading: 3 min.
McLaren’s glory days are far away in time, so much so that to find its last consecration in Constructors you have to go back to the last century. Far away, in 1998, the Woking team won its eighth and, to date, last team crown. However, he remained in the limelight, with triumphs and even a drivers’ title (Lewis Hamilton in 2008) until 2012. Afterwards, the team in which a certain Ayrton Senna shone, among so many illustrious names that passed through the team, He entered a cone of shadows from which he might not leave. They changed engine suppliers, suffered the Honda fiasco, went to Renault, returned to Mercedes… Nothing changed the course and they even became the penultimate team in Formula 1. But they never gave up and the fruit began to be seen this year with a very young couple of drivers: Lando Norris (already in his fifth season, all with McLaren) and Oscar Piastri, in his debut year. And Japan’s double podium was a clear example of progress.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri pose with their trophies.Getty Images
“It was another incredible day for us… Second and third, you mightn’t ask for more. We have done a great job, the start has been very good, I was almost able to overtake Max, but Max is Max, so I didn’t have a chance later in the second corner,” said Norris, who added his tenth podium in F1, the fifth in second position. “The pace has been good compared to the rest… and we are not close to Verstappen, but not too far behind,” completed the Englishman, who still hopes to achieve this year that first success that for now it is elusive.
With Piastri’s third place, McLaren added its 499th podium in history and once once more had two representatives at the awards ceremony following two years (since Italy 2021). For the Australian it is his best result in the World Cup. “I can’t get enough of thanking the team for giving me this opportunity that not many people have in their lives and I have had it in my first season. It wasn’t my best race, but it was enough to win me a trophy. In the second half of the season I have found my rhythm, so I am very happy and looking forward to more,” said the Australian.
Zak Brown, director of McLaren, undoubtedly left Japan happy. Fourth place in Constructors is a very concrete chance. For now, the team is fifth, 49 points behind Aston Martin. But the numbers encourage the papayas: in the last three games, the green team scored just six points, compared to 61 for Woking’s team. But Brown also left with a certainty: sooner rather than later he will have to intercede in a sporting battle between his pupils who already had a chapter in Suzuka, when Norris asked on the radio that Piastri let him pass. The Australian defended himself tooth and nail. “Surely there will be difficult moments in the future, but we are going little by little and it is our first podium together, so it is a good moment,” Norris minimized. This story will continue.
JAPAN GP RESULT
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