Lando Norris says he is pleased to have already built up a level of respect and trust with team-mate Oscar Piastri.
Piastri joined McLaren this year after being subject to a contractual dispute between the Woking-based squad and Alpine last year.
McLaren has endured a difficult start to the 2023 campaign and currently sits sixth in the championship standings as it targets performance gains.
Piastri is Norris’ third team-mate at McLaren since he joined the squad in 2019, having previously partnered Carlos Sainz and Daniel Ricciardo.
As Piastri navigates his rookie year in F1, Norris hailed the Australian for his attitude in a team environment.
“All of it is good, to be honest. He’s a very normal guy. Down to earth. No ego. Just yeah, a normal guy. We get on really well. He’s extremely good, competitive, good team-mate.
“I think we’ve already built up a good amount of respect and trust towards one another.”
Amid McLaren’s difficult start to the 2023 campaign, Norris says that both drivers are focused on boosting performance rather than ensuring they have the upper hand on each other.
“We’ve both got the best interest at heart which is to help the team,” he said. “When you get to racing for first and second in a race, that’s when things I think change a huge amount.
“Now whether one of us finishes 15th or 16th, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter that much to me. Yeah. I feel like I’m just a good team-mate.
“I prefer to get along with my team-mate than not. I always try to make it work in better ways.”
After the opening eight rounds of the 2023 season, Norris and Piastri sit 11th and 14th respectively in the Drivers’ Championship.
Discussion about this post