Lando Norris' suggestion that he made things easy for his rookie teammate, Oscar Piastri suggests that Red Bull might not be the only team facing the prospect of some feisty intra-team battles this year.

With the Australian sidelined after just 13 laps in Bahrain and Norris suffering an issue which necessitated countless pit stops, fans were unable to make any early comparisons between the pair, though the Briton did out-qualify his new teammate causing fans of Daniel Ricciardo to predictably swarm all over social media.

At Jeddah, Norris clouted the wall in qualifying and failed to make it out of Q1, while Piastri claimed a highly credible 8th on the grid.

At the start however it all began to fall apart, the Australian clashed with Pierre Gasly necessitating a stop for a new front wing while debris from the incident meant an early stop for Norris also.

Condemned to running at the rear of the field for the remainder of the afternoon, the pair entertained themselves with a brief skirmish which saw the rookie pass the Briton, only for Norris to repay the favour.

In the final stages of the race, as the pair now hunted down (15th-placed) Logan Sargeant, Norris was called upon not to make like difficult for his teammate in order that he might challenge the Williams driver.

On the final lap Piastri claimed 15th from the American, and while fans salivate at the prospect of further battles between the pair, Norris is clearly not entirely enamoured with the situation.

"It was good, my first time racing Oscar," said the Briton.

"It was good fun," he continued. "The team told me not to make it too hard for him, so in the end I let him go.

"I probably could have got the Williams," he insisted, "I think I would have got the Williams myself. But I let him go, I made his life easier. I let him have a chance of getting past the Williams, which he did.

"It would be different if I was fighting for points, but 16th and 17th."

The McLaren's 'maestro's' magnanimity aside, despite the team currently being last in the standings, Norris insists that things are not as bleak as they look.

"I don't think it's too different to last year, in a way it's a little bit better than last year. It's just the field is tighter.

"We just had more issues," he said, "more reliability problems in race one, and obviously my mistake, and from Oscar's side, the incident with Gasly cost us.

"It's not as bad as what it looks I would say. We're not quick, that's the honest answer. It's just that when it's closer than ever, it's more punishing when things don't go your way."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by ChickenFarmerF1, 24/03/2023 20:16

"Piastri must be hoping he made the right move for the long game, because for this year it's certainly looking like Alpine would have been considerably more competitive. Which still isn't saying much. But he'd at least have been fighting for points instead on being a backmarker."

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2. Posted by TokyoAussie, 24/03/2023 3:32

"Too early to tell. If they are both equally quick as drivers, then McLaren have done well. If only they can turn the car around..."

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3. Posted by Chester, 22/03/2023 13:41

"Kenji, totally agree."

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4. Posted by kenji, 22/03/2023 12:59

"Little by little, inch by inch, tear down the wall. Norris's arrogant quip belies a new challenge. Some. obseravances....Piastri's nose change took 5 secs longer that that of Norris! Piastri was told to let Norris past as he was on softer rubber, which he did. Norris was given the strategy advantage of new mediums and Piastri was left out on old hard compound tyres. Piastri caught up with Norris who, despite fresher rubber, couldn't put a pass on the Williams. Piastri passed Norris who then repassed him . Piastri was quickly onto the back of Norris who was struggling hence the team orders. Piastri made a great pass on the Williams for 15th. Norris still couldn't get past the Williams before the checkered flag. Piastri did 49 laps on a set of hard tyres...how good was that? He was also faster than Norris on those same older tyres! Yes, early days but if OP can keep learning and making progress then we'll see if he has the chops to make it to the top five sometime in the future. All in all a great drive depite the fact that that was his first F1 race completion."

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"I let him go," says Norris

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