Oscar Piastri admitted that he is learning a lot from his highly-rated teammate Lando Norris, as the rookie Formula 1 driver navigates his way through his early career in top flight.
Truth be told, Piastri would've been hoping to have a smoother start to his career in F1, but has to deal to a variety of factors that make his induction into the top level of motorsport a tricky affair.
McLaren went through a management change ahead of the 2023 F1 season, as Team Principal Andreas Seidl jumped ship to Alfa Romeo to spearhead the team's morphing into Audi's F1 works team in 2026, and was replaced by Andrea Stella from within the ranks at Woking.
Furthermore, the team's new-for-2023 F1 car, the MCL60, has not been well conceived, the Papaya car lacking over several fronts, with the team Technical Director James Key paying the price and let go amid a major technical reshuffle within the team.
However, Piastri has been benefiting from having a teammate of Norris' caliber, the Briton quite experienced after five seasons in F1 despite being only 23.
Good to have Norris as a benchmark
"I've definitely been learning a lot from Lando," Piastri told Motorsport.com. "Not just how to drive this car specifically, but also just the way we do debriefs and attention to detail and stuff like that.
"I think there's always areas to try and improve. So it's been good to have him as a benchmark, definitely. I think Lando is very much established himself in his career so far as a high quality driver, so even just working alongside him definitely I can see that," he explained.
Norris recently hailed Piastri who he claimed is pushing him hard, while they both seem to have the same feedback regarding the team's MCL60.
Piastri referred to what Norris said, he commented: "I feel like similar to what Lando said, we're working in a very similar way in terms of what we want from the car.
"I think we're working in a very similar way, which is good for the team. For the engineering side of things that gives them a very clear direction," Piastri maintained.
After three races of his young F1 career, Piastri has had some mixed results, retiring from the season opener in Bahrain, while finishing 15th in Saudi Arabia after clashing with Norris. He finally scored his first points in F1 at his home race in Australia.
Latest News
Loading
