McLaren driver Lando Norris has taken a pretty blatant dig at former teammate Daniel Ricciardo while discussing the impact of rookie Oscar Piastri’s entry at the Woking-based outfit.
Norris was asked how he felt Piastri was settling down at McLaren and the British driver couldn’t help but offer huge praise in his response.
“He’s doing a very good job, honestly,” Lando said.
“I feel so weird talking like I’m the older guy, the more experienced one.
“But he’s doing a very good job, handling the pressure extremely well I would say, I think that is something that is very strong that I’ve seen in him.
“He’s calm, he’s controlled, and he’s quick, so I feel like he’s got a lot of what you need and he’s pushing me more than what I’ve had the last few years, which is a good thing for us as a team as well.
“So, a good job, in the points today and not an easy weekend. He went up from 16th to 8th, so a good day for him too.”
Prior to Piastri’s entry at McLaren, Ricciardo had endured a rather frustrating two years at the outfit despite having almost a decade of experience in the pinnacle of motorsport racing.
The Honey Badger’s contract was terminated at the end of the second year, which was a great thing for Ricciardo financially, but it has also resulted in his racing credentials take a significant beating.
This year, Ricciardo has been reunited with Red Bull, where he is serving the role of reserve driver during eight races and an ambassador for the entirety of the campaign.
Meanwhile, McLaren boss Andrea Stella also seemed pleased with what he has seen from Piastri this season, claiming his results have been “extremely positive”.
“He managed to stay out of trouble in a complex race – actually managed to stay out of trouble even when there was a situation in corner one in which he was squeeze (by Yuki Tsunoda) to stay calm,” Stella said.
“In terms of how long it took to overtake (Tsunoda), I’m not sure if it could have been more rapid or not,” he said.
“But that’s, to be honest, not very relevant. With Oscar, clearly our main objective is to just keep progressing, so we want to stay in the race, no unnecessary risks, and ultimately he capitalised.”
Piastri personally feels more motivated after his points-finish at Albert Park.
“It was nice to be on the good end of other things going wrong for other people,” Piastri said.
“I just got stuck behind Yuki a bit too long. I just couldn’t really find a way past.
“I was trying a few different things with the battery to try and use it in the right place and stuff.
“I think for me, still some learning to do on how to use the battery most effectively to overtake.
“Definitely to have both (McLaren drivers) in the points and strongly into the points is good.
“It’s not been a great first two races for the whole team for largely things out of our control.
“To get this amount of points early in the year is a great result, and something we need, to get points on the board.
“We’ve obviously got some upgrades coming in Baku and later through the year.
“So to get those points on the board with the car that we have at the moment I think is really important.”
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