Piastri’s F1 debut is highly anticipated after McLaren snatched the 2021 Formula 2 title from Alpine in last summer’s brilliantly silly season saga.

The 21-year-old Australian has not disappointed so far. After a disjointed Bahrain weekend at McLaren, Piastri proved Norris’ competitiveness in Saudi Arabia, and he also took on his more experienced team-mate in Melbourne as the pair claimed Woking The team’s first point of the season.

Afterwards, Norris praised his new teammates for pushing him from the start.

“He’s done a good job. I think he knows the car well, it’s obviously not an easy car to drive,” he said.

“Of course, I think he’s done a good job in Saudi. He’s in the third quarter, the only third quarter so far this year. So, he’s keeping me on my toes.”

Norris also pointed out that Piastri’s feedback was more like his predecessor Daniel Ricciardo, who left the team after two difficult years.

lando norris, mclaren, oscar piastri, mclaren

Photography: Glenn Dunbar/ motorsport pictures

“Our comments are probably more consistent than in previous years,” Norris noted.

“That’s a good thing again, because it’s a better dynamic and allows the engineers, aerodynamicists and the rest of the team to focus on getting back to the MTC.

“Overall, we kind of want the same thing and I think that’s a good thing. So, from both sides, off the track and on the track, it’s a good start and he keeps me on my toes.”

Team boss Andrea Seidl agrees that Piastri has moved on and is already closer to Norris than Ricciardo, which was the whole idea of ​​swapping the two Australians in the first place.

“Of course, what we saw was Oscar was close to Lando on most corners, like (in Australia) he lost two out of ten on one corner, a reference to Lando himself,” Stella said.

“When your teammate is so competitive, he becomes your reference, and you take advantage the way Lando did.

“I would say the level of intimacy between the two drivers this year is definitely much better than what we saw last year.”