“Not Going To Praise Him Too Much”: Lando Norris Reluctantly Names One Factor That Places Oscar Piastri Higher Than Daniel Ricciardo

Lando Norris has begun his fifth season with team McLaren. In his time at McLaren, he competed with drivers like Carlos Sainz and Daniel Ricciardo. In one of his previous interactions, Norris claimed he shared more similarities with Carlos Sainz than Daniel Ricciardo. Now, the British driver has named a single factor that puts Oscar Piastri ahead of the honey badge in the priority list of the 23-year-old.

McLaren performed admirably at the chaotic Australian GP last weekend. The team, which had struggled for a position and was at the bottom of the championship standings for the previous two races, had a successful weekend, with both of its drivers earning significant points. Oscar Piastri, who was driving at home, received a P8, while Lando Norris earned a P6. The squad feels optimistic about their performance and believes it was a step on the right way. As a result of their overall performance, the squad moved up to P5 in the standings.

In a recent interview, Lando Norris identified a particular aspect that has helped the team’s progress. As quoted by Motorsports total.com, the British driver commended Oscar Piastri and noted how the McLaren engineers’ jobs had been simpler thanks to their similar feedback, which had not been the case when he was teamed with the honey badger.

He said, “Our feedback is probably a bit more similar than in previous years, I think that’s a good thing because we have better dynamics, so the engineers, the aerodynamicists and the rest of the team can focus on that because we want the same thing. This applies both on and off the track. I’m not going to praise him too much now, but he’s doing a very good job and I think he understands the car well, even if it’s not easy to drive”

READ MORE: Zak Brown Shoots Down Lando Norris & Oscar Piastri’s “Miracle” Hopes as Reality Sinks In After Unexpected Points Finish

The performance gave the entire squad a much-needed boost, Andrea Stella has evaluated both of his drivers and shared his opinion as to how both of his drivers have now positioned the team in a better place.

McLaren TP discusses how the squad will benefit from Lando Norris’ and Oscar Piastri’s different driving styles

When Andreas Seidl left the organization to join Sauber, the Woking-based team chose Andrea Stella to take his place. And now, after spending several months working with the team’s drivers, the new TP has offered his opinion on the diverse driving styles of his drivers and how their different handling of MCL60 will help the team to get in a better position.

He said, “Oscar is close to Lando in most corners, but in one corner he lost a few tenths, which is also a good bar for Lando. If your teammate is competitive, they’re your benchmark. I believe that we are better positioned in terms of the performance density of the drivers than in previous years.”

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In light of the aforementioned do you think the team’s performance will change following the Baku modifications?