Oscar Piastri’s challenge is already greater than what Daniel Ricciardo believes Lando Norris

Lando Norris claims that Oscar Piastri is already giving him a greater challenge in Formula 1 at McLaren than Daniel Ricciardo was able to do.

Ricciardo joined McLaren to support Norris in 2021, but the Australian did not meet expectations and lost his driver’s seat at the end of the 2022 season, being replaced by his compatriot Oscar Piastri after he was taken from Alpine.

Piastri performed well alongside the highly esteemed Norris, even though he’s trailing 3-1 in the race. However, Norris believes that Piastri is providing him with a good challenge as he takes over team leadership in 2023.

Norris compares Piastri and Ricciardo

“When both of us explain what is happening with the car to our engineers and what we expect from the car, we align very well. Oscar is just as ‘pro’ as Daniel and he is very fast,” Norris explained to the media.

(I) I wouldn’t say that we have the same driving style, but our comments and complaints are generally the same, which is a good thing. They might rely on me a bit more to know how we settled things in previous years, to see the evolution between last year and this year.

He is a charming man, down-to-earth, normal, and hardworking – so yes, it’s very fun because he is different from Daniel. I always feel a little different from Australians, but it’s very enjoyable. He is also very fast, so he probably pushed me a little more than these past two years.