Piastri already “learning a lot” from Norris as McLaren F1 team-mates

2021 Formula 2 champion Piastri was drafted in to replace fellow Australian Daniel Ricciardo, who failed to live up to expectations in his two seasons in the team as he struggled to come to grips with McLaren’s cars.

The expectation was that highly-rated Piastri would be able to get closer to Norris than Ricciardo did from an early stage and the 21-year-old has already delivered on that promise, with Norris admitting Piastri is already “keeping me on my toes” and praising the fact that both drivers have similar feedback on the MCL60.

Piastri says it is beneficial to have Norris, who has entered his fifth season in F1, as a benchmark as he gets up to speed in his rookie season.

“I’ve definitely been learning a lot from Lando,” Piastri said. “Not just how to drive this car specifically, but also just the way we do debriefs and attention to detail and stuff like that.

“I think there’s always areas to try and improve. So it’s been good to have him as a benchmark, definitely.

“I think Lando is very much established himself in his career so far as a high quality driver, so even just working alongside him definitely I can see that.”

Piastri echoed Norris’ comments on having complementary driving styles and handling requirements, which has helped the team define a development direction.

“I feel like similar to what Lando said, we’re working in a very similar way in terms of what we want from the car,” he agreed.

“I think we’re working in a very similar way, which is good for the team. For the engineering side of things that gives them a very clear direction.”

Piastri’s early performances have earned praise from McLaren CEO Zak Brown, who thought “early indications are that Oscar will be on the same pace as Lando”, which reflected a Saudi Arabia weekend in which Piastri was at least on par with his team-mate.

In his Australian Grand Prix home race the Melbourne local grabbed his first F1 points of his career in eighth place, behind Norris in sixth.

McLaren is heading to the next race in Baku armed with its first major upgrade package that should address some of the launch spec’s aerodynamic inefficiency, as the 2023 car has been struggling with excessive drag.