"Pushing me a little bit more than the past couple years": Lando Norris compares Oscar Piastri to Daniel Ricciardo

Lando Norris feels his teammate Oscar Piastri has been a valuable addition to McLaren and has been pushing him 'a bit more' than former teammate Daniel Ricciardo.

Norris was teamed up with Ricciardo at McLaren for the 2021 and 2022 F1 season. The partnership was supposed to see Ricciardo triumph over Norris comfortably but that didn't happen.

In those two years, the Australian struggled to adapt his driving style to McLaren as Lando Norris continued to dominate. As a result, the Woking-based squad had to cut short Ricciardo's contract by a year and sign Oscar Piastri.

During the pre-race drivers' press conference, Lando Norris was asked what changes he felt about switching from one Australian driver to the other. Replying to Mandy Curi from motorsport.com, he said,

"Honestly, just as a genuine, genuine answer, it's not too different. I think 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."

He added:

"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. He's a lovely guy, down to earth, normal guy, hard worker and so on. So it's good, fun. Different, I guess to Daniel."

"I feel like a bit of a contrast of Australian but still good fun. He's very fast at the same time. So probably been pushing me a little bit more than the past couple years. So yeah, enjoyable."

Lando Norris on an impressive two-race points-scoring streak

Lando Norris is on an impressive two-race points-scoring streak. The McLaren driver scored points for the team in Australia as he survived the red-flag restart carnage.

Then in Baku, aided by what appeared to be a very impressive upgrade package from the team, Lando Norris secured another points finish. The driver has been the benchmark once again for the team this season.

While Oscar Piastri is still bedding in, Norris, the senior driver within the team, has been leading the charge at McLaren.