Lando Norris, McLaren’s Formula 1 driver, believes his rookie team-mate Oscar Piastri has kept him on his “toes” in the opening three F1 Grand Prix.
Piastri won the Formula 2 championship title in 2021. His victory anticipated his promotion to F1 at McLaren like the British driver, his predecessor.
The team’s decision showed promising results as the young Australian did not disappoint. After a difficult start at Bahrain, Piastri matched his team-mate performance at Saudia Arabia. Additionally, he ran much closer to the experienced driver in Malbourne, where the pair managed to score first points for the team.
Moreover, the British driver admired his new team-mate for keeping him at toes from the start.
“He’s done a very good job. I think he’s understood the car well, it’s obviously not an easy car to drive,” he said.
“For sure, I think he did a very good job in Saudi. He got into Q3, the only Q3 this year so far. So, he’s keeping me on my toes.”
Norris also mentioned the similarity of feedback between himself and his team-mate Piastri. This would certainly help the team to develop the car at a faster pace. Daniel Ricciardo, who switched back to Red Bull after tough two year, had different opinions on the matters.
“Our comments are probably a little bit more in line than what they have been in previous years,” Norris noted.
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“Which again, is a good thing, just because it’s better a dynamic for keeping the focus for the engineers, the aerodynamicists, the rest of the team back in MTC.
“We kind of want the same anything in general and I think that’s a good thing. So, from both sides, the off-track and the on-track, it’s a good start and he’s keeping me on my toes.”
Andrea Seidl, McLaren F1 team boss, agreed that Piastri has taken the field from the start. He has closed the gap between himself and his team-mate and already closer than his ex-partner Ricciardo. It also accomplishes the intended results while swapping the Australians.
“Certainly, what we see is that Oscar is close to Lando in most of the corners, like [in Australia] he lost a couple of tenths in a single corner, which gives references to Lando himself,” said Stella.
“When your team-mate is so competitive, then he becomes a reference for you, and you take advantage like Lando is doing.
“I would say this year the closeness between the two drivers is certainly much better.”
