Oscar Piastri has adapted to life at McLaren admirably during his rookie Formula 1 season, scoring his first career podium in Japan. The Australian is offering a fresh challenge to Lando Norris, who for the two seasons previously, managed to consistently outpace Daniel Ricciardo - sometimes by a large margin. Although Norris has had the upper hand on Piastri this year, the 23-year-old has been challenged by his new team-mate - an obstacle that he asserts is a positive for the team. “I’ve said previously, I'm not afraid to say it, he's pushed me more than the last couple of years,” Norris exclusively told RacingNews365.com . “He’s just adapted quicker to driving the car. And therefore he's pushed me more. “It’s a good thing for me because you do want somebody who can push you, someone you can learn from. You're always going to be learning.”
'Similar situation at Mercedes'
Norris has out-qualified and out-raced Piastri more often than not so far this campaign, but Piastri’s qualities have shone through as he continues to get up to speed in F1. The Briton also believes that other teams are experiencing a similar situation to him - pointing to the intra-team battle at Mercedes. “I’m sure now Lewis [Hamilton] is learning a lot from George [Russell],” Norris stated. “George is doing a very good job. “He beats him some of the time. And I'm sure Lewis is looking at the data sometimes going ‘damn, I got to do this to be better’. “And it's not like, he can just go ‘yeah, I can do that’. It just doesn't work. It's always going to be difficult for everyone.”
'More stressful'
The new McLaren partnership has come amid a season of resurgence, following one of their worst season starts to date. Now they are firmly in the battle for fourth in the Constructors' Championship with regular early-season podium finishers Aston Martin. The Woking-based squad is heading towards a fresh, more competitive era - and Norris suggested that Piastri’s outlook will help it get there, despite placing added pressure on Norris’ shoulders. “It’s been good,” he said. “Of course, it's more stressful having a quicker teammate. I have to deal with it. “I have to work a little bit harder to understand some of his driving styles and how he does things because he does things which may aren’t the most common at times. “It’s been good for me, good for the team. We kind of have similar comments, different ways at times driving, sometimes very similar. But our comments always generally want the same things. “We’ve been brought up in different ways and drove different cars, different teams, so always our comments are going to be different. “And that's always a good thing that you kind of have two perspectives. I think ‘it needs to be better because of this’ and he goes ‘maybe it’ll be better because of this’.”
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