Oscar Piastri pushed Norris harder than Daniel Ricciardo and Carlos Sainz ever could
Lando Norris said Oscar Piastri made him "dig deeper" than Daniel Ricciardo and Carlos Sainz ever made him
Oscar Piastri succeeded in making Lando Norris “dig deeper” than he ever had to before. Even Daniel Ricciardo and Carlos Sainz did not push Norris this hard.
That was the admission which Norris himself made, after securing his first World Championship at the conclusion of a three-way fight with his McLaren teammate Piastri, plus Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Oscar Piastri pushed Norris harder than Daniel Ricciardo and Sainz did
After moving 34 points clear at the top of the Drivers’ Championship after Zandvoort, Piastri appeared to be marching towards the crown. But, a late-season slump coincided with a surge from Norris and Verstappen. Suddenly, it was a three-way fight going into the Abu Dhabi decider.
Norris secured the podium result which he needed to become World Champion for the first time. Verstappen fell two points short, and Piastri was forced to settle for third in the final standings.
When speaking with Sky F1, Norris was keen to dish out the praise for Piastri, a teammate who he said challenged him even more than his first McLaren F1 teammate, Carlos Sainz, and Piastri’s fellow Australian Daniel Ricciardo, were able to.
“I’m lucky, the team have given me an incredible car that’s made my life very easy at times,” said Norris.
“At times, we’ve still struggled, and even I’ve struggled against Oscar, and Oscar’s done an incredible job.
“I’m glad I’ve had Oscar the last three years, because even though he’s still a lot newer to it than me, I’ve learned a lot from him, and he showed me up at many times.
“I’ve managed to learn a lot from him, and I wouldn’t be the driver I am today without that.
“Of course, also with my other teammates, with Carlos, with Daniel the last few years. But, he’s made me have to dig even deeper than I ever have before.
“Because by the midpoint of the season, he was performing better than I was, and doing a better job consistently. And then after Zandvoort, it was pretty tough.
“But, we had a good break, and I managed to do everything I needed to.
“That’s not just driving better on track. There’s a lot of other things that go on in the background that I had to do personally to make myself better, to make myself more resilient, in all the cases, to get more out of myself, whether that’s the delta lap time and the little things that no one’s going to know for years.
“Two points, and so easily, one other thing that I didn’t do quite well enough, or whatever, could have changed all of today, and I wouldn’t be smiling.
“More than anything, I want to, of course, enjoy the moment, but also give a congrats to Oscar, and to Max, of course, for making us stress like hell the last few months.”
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Norris was keen to highlight McLaren’s commitment to creating a level playing field for he and Piastri to battle for the crown.
CEO Zak Brown and team principal Andrea Stella resisted calls to prioritise one driver to secure the title, an approach which ultimately paid off.
“But also to Oscar, as my teammate, I think people don’t understand how difficult it can be, like people have proven in the past, having teammates fighting for a World Championship,” Norris continued.
“And for Zak and Andrea to kind of have control over those things. It’s certainly tougher than just having one car. And we take points off of each other. We make our lives harder. Strategy is always more difficult. But, the team would always take that over only having one car performing for a World Championship.
“I have to give a congrats to Oscar, because he’s driven incredible and at some point, he’s going to get the better of me, because he’s an incredible driver.
“I learned a lot. I’ve enjoyed it a lot, and sadly, I’ve got a lot more seasons with him in the future, so I look forward to those tough moments as well.”
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