Lando Norris has hailed team-mate Oscar Piastri as “one of the best” rookie drivers Formula 1 has ever seen, something which is incredibly difficult to disagree with.
Piastri has been a sensation this season who has adjusted to the championship with ease, to the extent that he’s already challenging Norris on a Grand Prix basis.
Having won the Formula 3 title in 2020 and the Formula 2 title in 2021, it was always known that the Australian driver was going to be quick, but very few expected him to get up to speed quite so fast.
He only really needed a few races to settle into F1 and into McLaren, following his dramatic move from Alpine.
Want to work in Formula 1? Browse the latest F1 job vacancies
Since McLaren introduced their huge upgrades package at the Austrian Grand Prix, Piastri has matched Norris, with him actually being very unfortunate not to have claimed a podium.
Piastri secured back-to-back top five finishes in Silverstone and at the Hungaroring, although had it not been for a Safety Car at the British Grand Prix, then he would’ve claimed his maiden podium.
Despite this, he did finish second in the Belgian Grand Prix sprint race, which he led until being overtaken by reigning World Champion Max Verstappen.
Piastri is simply going to get better and better, making it understandable why he’s viewed as a future World Champion.
Whilst Norris jokes that he’s “played a huge role” in Piastri’s development this season, the British driver recognises just how good the young Aussie is.
READ: Zhou Guanyu reveals why Audi takeover is bad news for him
“I obviously played a huge role, no, he’s developed a decent amount but he started off on probably one of the best baselines a rookie’s ever started off on coming into F1,” Norris said, as reported by Total-Motorsport.com
“So I think he’s made a good amount of development, but the better thing is just how he started from the first race weekend itself.
“I don’t know how much of a part I played, that’s a question for him.
“I believe it played a part of course, because he looks at my data every weekend and he sees everything that I do, the ways that I work on and off the track. But he doesn’t need a lot.”