Oscar Piastri Showers Credit on Lando Norris as Prestigious Award Buries Dark F1 Past

Sabyasachi Biswas | 11/12/2023
Oscar Piastri Showers Credit on Lando Norris as Prestigious Award Buries Dark F1 Past

Oscar Piastri has always lauded his teammate Lando Norris for being the benchmark for his performances. The Australian also praised the Briton in the recent FIA Prize Giving Ceremony. During the ceremony, Piastri picked up the Rookie of the Year award.

After winning the award, Piastri said in an exclusive interview with F1, “In F1 there’s only your teammate that you can directly compare to, and Lando [Norris] has been a very good benchmark. So, in some ways, at the start anyway, seeing how I fared was a bit of a measuring stick for myself.”

Admittedly, Piastri could have never raced for McLaren in the first place if his relationship with Alpine had remained as good as it was before. Had there been no lapse from Alpine’s higher officials, the Australian driver might not have had the opportunity to race for the team from Woking and drive alongside Norris.

Alpine made the mistake of announcing Piastri as their driver without consulting with the 22-year-old. The French team did it immediately after Fernando Alonso decided to switch to Aston Martin in 2023. After a long struggle, McLaren finally got hold of Piastri, who now kept all of the dark past behind to shine on the global stage yet again.

Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris have a strong relationship

2023 was the first season of the partnership between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. Even though Norris is yet to form a similar bond with Piastri as he had with Carlos Sainz or Daniel Ricciardo, the duo still got along well.

Both drivers often share good feedback about each other. Speaking about the duo, McLaren boss Andrea Stella once said during a podcast that both drivers usually share similar input in terms of car development back in the factory and in the simulation.

Norris too shared his thoughts about having Piastri as his teammate. Norris stated that his younger teammate helps him push boundaries and be a better driver. Hence, McLaren seem to be in a good place heading into the 2024 season.

Post Edited By: Vidit Dhawan
Lando Norris McLaren Oscar Piastri

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Sabyasachi Biswas

Sabyasachi Biswas is an F1 journalist at The SportsRush. With over one and a half decades of love for the sport and five years of experience in the field, he dreams to be a regular at the paddock when the lights go out. A Red Bull fan and F1 fan in general over the years, he enjoyed watching Felipe Massa, Sebastian Vettel, and Max Verstappen dominate the track. Apart from F1, he's also a big-time Madridista and Federer fanatic. He was a sub-junior level footballer, won inter-district quizzes and debate competitions back in school. A travel freak throughout, he tries different cuisines and learns new cultures whenever he's away from the keyboard.

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