Lando Norris says Oscar Piastri is already pushing him harder than Daniel Ricciardo did despite being just four rounds into his Formula 1 career.
Ricciardo left McLaren after two difficult campaigns in orange. Though he scored the team’s only victory of the last decade in 2021, his 2022 season returned a dire 37 points, some 85 fewer than Norris.
Piastri was poached by the team to replace his compatriot despite having spent a year on the sidelines as Alpine’s reserve driver, with his three junior championships making him an attractive proposition notwithstanding his lack of F1 experience.
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The Melburnian has so far enjoyed a commendable first few rounds, particularly in qualifying.
Norris and Piastri are among the most closely matched teammates on the grid. After four rounds and five qualifying sessions, the pair is split by an average of just 0.055 seconds. Only the Mercedes and Alfa Romeo drivers have been split by less.
The margin arguably flatters Piastri given he’s outqualified Norris only once this year, at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. The Briton crashed out of Q1 that weekend, blowing out the gap to 1.2 seconds for that round.
That said, most of Piastri’s deficit to Norris has come from single-corner mistakes in qualifying when he’s otherwise been on the pace, which the team has put down partly to its on-the-limit car.
“He‘s very fast,” Norris acknowledged. “Probably he has been pushing me a little bit more than the past couple years. So yeah, enjoyable.”
Norris said Piastri had slipped seamlessly into the team.
“He‘s a lovely guy — down to earth, normal guy, hard worker and so on,” Norris said. “So it’s good, fun.
“It’s different to Daniel — I feel like a bit of a contrast of Australian! — but still good fun.”
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The McLaren set-up has changed markedly this season, with former team boss Andreas Seidl leaving Woking for Sauber to lead its transition into the Audi works team.
Andrea Stella has taken the reins, and one of the Italian’s first projects was to restructure the technical department. Former technical chief James Key was dismissed and has been replaced by three section chiefs, including an external hire from Ferrari due to start next year.
Though Norris had made himself the lead driver in the last 24 months by comfortably covering Ricciardo, he’s now an unquestioned senior leader, a role emphasised by Piastri’s inexperience.
But the Briton said the transition has been easy and that he’s been encouraged by Piastri’s similar car feedback as they attempted to haul the MCL60 up the grid.
“It‘s a good vibe,” he said. “Honestly, just as a genuine, genuine answer, it’s not too different.
“I think [compared to] how I worked last year and how I worked with Daniel, it‘s not too different, it’s not like too many things change.
“Maybe they lean on me a little bit more for the knowledge of how we were in previous years, to look at the development from last year to this year and things like that.
“But apart from that, you both give your sides of the feelings and the story of what‘s going on to the car, what you want from the car, which aligns very well.
“I wouldn‘t say we have the same driving style, but our comments and complaints are generally always the same, so I think that’s a good thing.”
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Piastri scored his first points at the Australian Grand Prix last month and has finished ahead of Norris twice this season, in Jeddah and at last weekend’s Baku sprint. He’s six points behind his teammate in the drivers championship standings.
McLaren brought its first major up upgrade to the car last weekend which the team says has put it back on track to move up the grid.