10/04/2023
NEWS STORY
Lando Norris appears to take a back-handed swipe at former teammate, Daniel Ricciardo as he admits that new teammate, Oscar Piastri is pushing him.
While McLaren isn't built around the Briton to the extent that Red Bull is built around Max Verstappen, most would agree that Lando Norris is the 'favoured son', particularly in the eyes of Zak Brown.
The legal wrangle with Alpine aside, Piastri's arrival at Woking has many people salivating for the Australian is a proven winner, having won the Formula Renault Eurocup, and F3 and F2 titles in quick succession.
His start at McLaren has been a little wobbly, mostly because he spent 2022 basically kicking his heels, not to mention the obvious shortcomings of the car, however he is slowly beginning to establish himself, scoring his first points in his home race last weekend.
Suffering an electrics issue he retired from the season opener, while finishing ahead of his teammate in Jeddah. Last weekend he and Norris finally opened McLaren's 2023 points account.
As he continues to get his feet under the table, many are expecting Piastri to give Norris a serious run for his money, and the Briton admits that he's feeling the pressure.
"He's doing a very good job, honestly," he told Channel 4.
"I feel so weird talking like I'm the older guy, the more experienced one," he laughed. But he's doing a very good job, handling the pressure extremely well I would say, I think that is something that is very strong that I've seen in him."
However, while continuing to sing Piastri's praises, Norris appeared to take a swipe at former teammate, Daniel Ricciardo.
"He's calm, he's controlled and he's quick," he said of his new teammate, "so I feel like he's got a lot of what you need and he's pushing me more than what I've had the last few years, which is a good thing for us as a team as well."