Piastri gets what Ricciardo failed to do: 'He is very fast'

McLaren paid big money to snatch Piastri away from Alpine. The Australian had been sidelined at the French racing stable in 2022 and was keen on a switch. McLaren did have to buy out Ricciardo's ongoing contract and win a court case from Alpine to do so but now has the F2 and F3 champion in-house. All this to push Norris more.

Pressure on Norris

Norris has been at McLaren since 2019 and has emerged as the team's front-runner since Ricciardo's arrival. Now that the good-humoured Australian has been replaced by his compatriot, the atmosphere has not diminished. ''It's a good vibe. What's it like? Honestly, just as a genuine answer, it's not too different. I think how I worked last year and how I worked with Daniel it's not too different. It's not like too many things change,'' Norris said honestly at the press conference.

''He's a lovely guy, down to earth, normal guy. Hard worker and so on. So, it's good fun.  Different, I guess, to Daniel. I feel like a bit of a contrast of Australian. But, yeah, still good fun. He's very fast at the same time. So, he's probably been pushing me a little bit more than the past couple of years. So, yeah, enjoyable,'' the Brit concludes.

For now, Piastri is closer on Norris' heels than Ricciardo ever managed. On Saturday, it is 3-1 in the qualifying duel for Norris, but with a tiny average difference of 0.078s. That was different with Ricciardo last year, who lost a whopping 0.344s per qualifying session. On Sunday too, Piastri is close behind and even finished ahead of his teammate in Jeddah.