Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri finally got something to celebrate after a miserable start to the season. The McLaren drivers finished P6 and P8 respectively in the 2023 Australian GP, scoring the first points for the team.
Both drivers managed to stay clear of the ruckus during the race. However, it was the rookie Piastri who impressed the lot. The 21-year-old debutant managed to score his first set of points on his first home GP.
The Aussie has managed to stick closely with his more experienced teammate. Norris too admits that the youngster is worried him more than Daniel Ricciardo ever did, despite being just 3 races in his F1 career.
Lando Norris lauds Oscar Piastri
Lando Norris faced no threat from former Daniel Ricciardo during his time at McLaren. The 8-GP winner’s driving wasn’t suited to the car. And in his final season, Ricciardo managed to score just 37 points.
Norris on the other hand scored 122 points and out-qualified the experience Aussie 20 times in the season. However, he is already facing the heat with newcomer Oscar Piastri.
Piastri has managed to closely match the Briton’s performances. He managed to take his team to Q3 in Saudi Arabia, while Norris dropped out in Q1.
Speaking to Channel 4 after the Australian GP, Norris claims the youngster has fared well so far. He said, “He’s doing a very good job handling the pressure, which is the very strong point I’ve seen in him.”
Norris added, “He’s calm, controlled, and quick. So I think he has a lot of what you need. He’s pushing me more than I’ve had in the last few years, which is good for us as a team.” This clearly indicates that swapping Ricciardo for Piastri was a good decision for the team.
Norris is happy to secure his first point of 2023
Lando Norris finally managed to score his first points of the new season. The driver was troubled by an engine problem in the Bahrain GP. He broke his suspension whilst setting a timed lap at the Saudi Arabian GP Qualifying session, forcing him to start 19th.
However, this time Mclaren was lucky to not get caught up in any collisions. Both drivers managed to bring the car back without any reliability issues, which Norris claims is positive news.
He said post-race, “We had a good pace throughout and stayed out of trouble with no mistakes. The team did a very good job. I think the pace today was stronger than our qualifying pace yesterday, so things came together nicely.”
Norris claims it’s beneficial for the team to have scored points before the next race in Baku. The team can analyze the data from the past 2 races to prepare for upgrades 3 weeks later at the Azerbaijan GP.
