Lando Norris has opened up on the challenge he faces from new teammate Oscar Piastri, saying his new teammate pushed him harder than Daniel Ricciardo ever did.
Asked how Piastri is settling into the Woking-based outfit after a turbulent 2022 and off-season, Norris was generous in his praise.
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“He’s doing a very good job, honestly,” he said.
“I feel so weird talking like I’m the older guy, the more experienced one.
“But he’s doing a very good job, handling the pressure extremely well I would say, I think that is something that is very strong that I’ve seen in him.
“He’s calm, he’s controlled, and he’s quick, so I feel like he’s got a lot of what you need and he’s pushing me more than what I’ve had the last few years, which is a good thing for us as a team as well.
“So, a good job, in the points today and not an easy weekend. He went up from 16th to 8th, so a good day for him too.”
Ricciardo spent two miserable years in papaya trying to recover the form that saw him labelled a future world champion while at Red Bull, and was unceremoniously booted in favour of compatriot Piastri last year and forced off the grid to a reserve role with his old team for 2023.
It comes as Piastri slowly begins to find his feet at the pinnacle of motorsport, surviving with a Bradbury-esque effort at Albert Park amid carnage that wiped out almost half the grid.
McLaren boss Andrea Stella described Piastri’s results as “extremely positive” in helping the team take home their first points of the year.
“He managed to stay out of trouble in a complex race – actually managed to stay out of trouble even when there was a situation in corner one in which he was squeeze (by Yuki Tsunoda) to stay calm,” he said.
Piastri was battling with the Japanese AlphaTauri driver for almost half the race, only getting past in the new fourth DRS section on the run down to turn nine on the 29th lap.
“In terms of how long it took to overtake (Tsunoda), I’m not sure if it could have been more rapid or not,” Stella said.
“But that’s, to be honest, not very relevant.
“With Oscar, clearly our main objective is to just keep progressing, so we want to stay in the race, no unnecessary risks, and ultimately he capitalised.”
Piastri called his result in Melbourne a learning experience that would motivate the 22-year-old.
“It was nice to be on the good end of other things going wrong for other people,” he said.
“I just got stuck behind Yuki a bit too long. I just couldn’t really find a way past.
“I was trying a few different things with the battery to try and use it in the right place and stuff.
“I think for me, still some learning to do on how to use the battery most effectively to overtake.
“Definitely to have both (McLaren drivers) in the points and strongly into the points is good.
“It’s not been a great first two races for the whole team for largely things out of our control.
“To get this amount of points early in the year is a great result, and something we need, to get points on the board.
“We’ve obviously got some upgrades coming in Baku and later through the year.
“So to get those points on the board with the car that we have at the moment I think is really important.”