McLaren duo Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were left gobsmacked following a comment made by McLaren CEO Zak Brown, after the American fired a shot at Lance Stroll.
Norris, Piastri and Brown recently competed in a quiz on Virgin UK, which is where Brown shocked his drivers after insisting that he was “dominating”.
“I’m dominating. This is like Alonso on Stroll,” Brown said after winning a point on Virgin UK.
Brown’s comment caused Piastri to laugh, whilst Norris sat with a gaping mouth, seemingly in disbelief at what his boss had just said.
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The sly dig at Stroll comes after the Canadian finished 11 of the opening 12 races of 2023 behind Fernando Alonso, who has been the clear leader at Aston Martin.
Alonso has been sensational since making the switch to Aston Martin, with him having begun his time at the Silverstone-based team with six podiums in the first eight races of the season.
Stroll hasn’t claimed a rostrum all year despite having had a car capable of doing so at times, raising doubt over whether he has the talent to compete at the front.
His best result of the season so far is fourth at the Australian Grand Prix, a race in which Alonso finished on the podium.
Due to his struggles, Stroll has scored just 47 points, compared to Alonso’s 149.
Alonso sits third in the Drivers’ Championship, whereas the Canadian is all the way down in ninth.
In Stroll’s defence, the start of 2023 was very painful for him both on and off the circuit, as he missed pre-season testing after fracturing both of his wrists in a cycling accident.
This immediately put him at a disadvantage, with him recognising that missing testing in Bahrain “definitely didn’t help”.
“Hopefully we get back to a stage where we’re that competitive,” Stroll told Motorsport Magazine.
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“I do believe we can do that. I mean, it definitely didn’t help to miss 250 laps of testing or whatever it was, and just be physically not at my best earlier on in the season.”
As well as his pre-season injury impacting his performance, Stroll also thinks that there has been a lot “out of our control”, which has led to disappointing results.
“I think this year is honestly a lot of things that are out of our control that have really affected us,” added Stroll. “And I think if we have clean weekends, the results will be better. That’s what I honestly believe.”