F1 News
McLaren drivers' praise questioned: 'The car itself is fantastic'
Former F1 driver Christijan Albers is highly critical of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri's performance so far this season. While they both won a Grands Prix already, according to the Dutchman, they are not performing well enough.
Albers highly critical of Norris and Piastri
Lando Norris won in Australia, while Oscar Piastri won in Shanghai last Sunday, however, they both have had a lesser result so far as well. Piastri finished in P9 at his home Grand Prix, while Norris only crossed the finish in P8 during the sprint in China.
Albers began: "I think they are very bad. And I'm not talking about the car, because the car is fantastic. They just have the best car in the field. But when you see that, those two guys. Boy, I think they make a lot of mistakes. I see Norris like that constantly driving off track. I know the cars have become much wider, but yes, the whole field has to deal with that. I also think Piastri has ups and downs. Now he has won and he is strong, but we will see again in Japan."
The former Formula One driver therefore believes these two drivers receive too much praise. "If at one point you have such a good car and then you have two of those drivers who are actually being praised all the way up, then I thought it was severely disappointing, those first two races. I mean, don't forget that those two guys both went seriously off [the track] in Australia. That ended well then, that they got back on track."
Verstappen stays close to the McLarens in the standings
In terms of the drivers' standings, Lando Norris is in first place, with 44 points. Max Verstappen is eight points behind his rival after two rounds, after the Dutchman finished in P4 last Sunday. Piastri at the moment is two points behind the defending world champion.
Albers therefore stated, "[The fact that McLaren are yet to disappear into the distance] that is of course lucky for Max. Because of that you see that Max is very close. And he can stay in touch. Those two guys could have actually been very far away already."
This article was written in collaboration with Cas van de Kleut
Want more Formula 1? Then follow GPblog on our various social media channels!