Norris pleased with 'respect and trust' built up with Piastri

Lando Norris says he's pleased with the level of "respect and trust" he has already built up with his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri.

McLaren's results out on the track this season have fallen short of the team's expectations due to the shortfall in performance of its MCL60.

But inside the Woking-based outfit prevails a productive and well-balanced atmosphere, marked by a harmonious working relationship between team papaya's drivers.

"All of it is good, to be honest," says Norris. "He’s a very normal guy. Down to earth. No ego. Just yeah, a normal guy. We get on really well. He’s extremely good, competitive, good team-mate.

"I think we’ve already built up a good amount of respect and trust towards one another."

At 23, Norris is only one year older than Piastri, but with over four seasons of F1 experience under his belt, the Briton is McLaren's default leader in terms of leading the way during its currently challenging period and a good benchmark for his rookie teammate.

• Read also: Norris opens up on battle with self-blame in F1

"We’ve both got the best interest at heart which is to help the team," he said. "When you get to racing for first and second in a race, that’s when things I think change a huge amount.

"Now whether one of us finishes 15th or 16th, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter that much to me. Yeah. I feel like I’m just a good team-mate.

"I prefer to get along with my team-mate than not. I always try to make it work in better ways."

On the other side of McLaren's garage, Piastri is listening and learning.

"I've definitely been learning a lot from Lando," the Aussie acknowledged earlier this year. "Not just how to drive this car specifically, but also just the way we do debriefs and attention to detail and stuff like that.

"There's always areas to try and improve, so it's been good to have him as a benchmark, definitely."

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