McLaren star Oscar Piastri emphasizes the importance of having a good relationship with Lando Norris

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri mentioned that he and teammate Lando Norris have an 'open' relationship when it comes to sharing data and taking the team forward in the future.

The Woking-based team surprised everyone with a mid-season resurgence that saw them eventually eclipse the high-flying Aston Martin at the end of the year in the constructor's championship and finish P4.

One of the main reasons behind the team's success in the 2023 season was the consistent performances between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris. The two drivers pushed each other to the limit and extracted the maximum out of the car despite having no internal problems.

Speaking with Motorsport.com, the Aussie spoke about his relationship with his British teammate and said:

"The relationship is still the same. Of course, we're not winning [titles] at the moment. We're a lot closer than we were but we still need to find that bit more to challenge and to beat Red Bull. So, it's still very important for us to work together and help the team develop the car."

"The team back at MTC and the engineers here are all doing their best to try and help things. In terms of data and stuff like that, it's all completely open. There are no barriers or anything and that won't change. We just need to make sure that our racing is respectful. But apart from that, it's all good."

Lando Norris speaks on his battles against Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton

Lando Norris stated that there was a difference between how he defended against Max Verstappen when compared to Lewis Hamilton in a race.

The McLaren driver pointed out that he has to assess his losses whilst going up against the Red Bull driver as he is aware that the Dutchman is driving a faster car. He said (via Motorsport.com):

“When Lewis overtook me [in Austin] it was with six laps to go or something. He was on way fresher tires, so still, maybe not the best reason to race against him but there was a lot more of a chance of keeping him behind potentially than there ever was with Max."

“If I’d raced Max, I would have used a lot more tires because he was a lot quicker. I only would have hurt my ability to extend a stint or only compromised my race more than benefitted it."

This was a smart approach from Lando Norris as the Red Bull driver was the quickest on the grid last season whilst he could have fought against Hamilton as Mercedes and McLaren were quite close in terms of performance.