Norris admits: Piastri “pushing me more” than Ricciardo did

Ricciardo lost his seat at McLaren at the end of last season after a couple of underwhelming years, and was replaced by his fellow Australian Piastri.

Norris insists his new teammate is “different” to Ricciardo in an intriguing contrast.

“How I worked last year, and how I worked with Daniel? It’s not too different,” Norris said at the F1 Miami Grand Prix. 

“It’s not like too many things change.

“There is maybe a bit more [feedback in] the knowledge of how we were in previous years to look at the development from last year to this year.

“Apart from that, you both give the story of what’s going on with the car, and what you want from the car, which aligns very well.

“I wouldn’t say we have the same driving style. But our comments and complaints are generally always the same. So that’s a good thing.

“He’s a lovely guy, down to earth, a normal guy, a worker. So it’s good fun. Different, I guess, to Daniel.

“He’s very fast at the same time, so he’s probably been pushing me a little bit more than in the past couple years.”

Norris has outperformed Piastri in four out of five qualifying sessions in 2023, only losing out when his run ended early in Saudi Arabia.

And he has finished ahead of Piastri in every race except in Jeddah, where he sustained damage which condemned him to a feeble start.

Piastri has finished within the points once so far.

But last year, Ricciardo finished a disappointing 11th in the F1 standings, his best result was P5 in Singapore.