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Oscar Piastri feels there aren't any barriers in his relationship with McLaren teammate Lando Norris as the duo try to take the team forward. The Woking-based squad has decided to keep the two young drivers for the long term. It's certainly considered a risk by many as having two young and fast drivers on the same team can prove counterproductive as they continue to trip over each other.
The 2023 F1 season had minor flashpoints when it came to this. The two drivers had a minor contact in Monza for which they did get publicly rebuked by McLaren boss Andrea Stella. Other than that, there was not anything major as Lando Norris more or less held the edge over Oscar Piastri who was still learning the ropes in his rookie season.
Talking to Autosport, Oscar Piastri stressed that the duo was entirely focused on taking the team forward, and other than that there hasn't been a scenario where the two withheld information. Talking about his relationship with Lando Norris, the Australian said:
“The relationship is still exactly the same. Of course, we’re not winning [titles] at the moment. We’re a lot closer than we were, but we still need to find that bit more to challenge and to beat Red Bull. So, it’s still very important for us to work together and help the team develop the car."
He added:
“The team back at MTC and the engineers here are all doing their best to try and help things. But if me and Lando have got any additional info or directions on things, then anything we can do to help is going to help both of us. In terms of data and stuff like that, it’s all completely open. There are no barriers or anything and that won’t change. We just need to make sure that our racing is respectful. But apart from that, it’s all good.”
Oscar Piastri knew he was always going to be compared with Lando Norris
Talking about his expectations in his rookie season, Oscar Piastri admitted that he knew he would always be compared with Lando Norris in his first season. Irrespective of where the car was, the first benchmark was always going to be the McLaren teammate. He said:
“I was still always going to be compared to Lando, whether we were fighting for last and second last or first and second. So, those comparisons were always still going to be there."
He added:
“But maybe in terms of outright results, maybe there wasn’t quite the pressure to achieve big points or podiums or whatever straight away. But that comparison was still there. I was still trying to learn as quickly as I could and try and help the team the best I could. It didn’t really lessen things.”
The dynamics between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are going to be interesting in 2024 as the Australian should be much better with experience under his belt.
