Lando Norris hoping Oscar Piastri pushes him more than Daniel Ricciardo

Piastri comes into Formula 1 with a ton of pressure on his shoulders for a number of reasons.

Firstly, he was very outspoken after not getting a seat for the 2022 season after finishing 2021 as the Formula 2 champion.

Then there is the whole scenario about how he ended up with McLaren after controversially wriggling his way out of his deal with Alpine Racing.

And finally, the fact that he is replacing fellow Australian Ricciardo, who is one of the most popular drivers on the grid.

All this means there will be a lot of judging eyes on the young driver.

Even though Norris probably wasn't meaning to add to the pressure on Piastri's shoulders, he almost certainly has by stating that he needs the rookie to be more competitive, more often than Ricciardo was.

"As a team we need a driver who does push me a little bit more, and hopefully that enables me to unlock even more potential from myself," Norris said.

"That's what we've lacked a little bit of in the last few seasons. And hopefully that's something that Oscar can add to the table this season, to push me, to help me find another limit of myself.

"There's nothing to worry about, I know how good of a driver is, so I don't expect him to come in and take a long time to get up to speed at all. I'm sure there's going to be times when he's performing extremely well, and he's pushing me to the limit. And hopefully we can use that to our advantage as a team.

"So I look forward to those times and I look forward to hopefully have some good battles with him and so on. And bring the team forward."