Norris makes Piastri “dealing with pressure” admission after rookie F1 season

While Norris was comfortably the lead McLaren driver in F1 2023, Piastri stole the headlines on a number of occasions.

Piastri took McLaren’s only victory of the year, taking the sprint race win in Qatar.

Reflecting on his teammate’s rookie campaign, Norris was very impressed.

“Oscar had an incredible season,” Norris said. “Keeping calm and being yourself, it’s good to be reminded of that.

“I think he's been very, very good at dealing with pressure, better than I feel like I remember I was when I started, but I think that’s because everyone's very different with all of this - dealing with pressure and remaining calm and chilled.

“I think that is something that I've gotten a lot better with over the years – I know how to deal with all of these things much better myself now.

“I have a lot of respect for Oscar in how he was able to stay so calm in a new environment, in Formula 1, on the big stage.”

McLaren made remarkable progress in 2023, going from the back of the grid to challenge Red Bull at the front.

Norris is confident McLaren are finally “on the right track” for greater success.

“We’re on the right track,” he added. We’ve learned so [much] really over the last four, five, six months. So the progress we’ve made, we’ve learned a lot.

“We have some new hirings coming in, and although not everything that they can bring to us will be on the car straight away, there are some things that we already know now.

“I’m excited because we’re finally on the right track, and we know in which direction to push, and I just want to start the season off well. 

“If we can start well in Bahrain, I’ll be much more excited.”