Lando Norris has admitted McLaren gave him “strict orders” to not make hit Oscar Piastri in the pair’s first on-track battle. The Briton will lead the team in 2023 after McLaren axed Daniel Ricciardo for the highly-rated Australian last season.
However, Noris admitted the new team-mates have already enjoyed their first race in a karting event ahead of the new season. He made the admission at McLaren’s launch event as they showed off their new livery for the new campaign.
Norris said: “We took it pretty seriously, My kart was quite a bit quicker than his. It was a good race, It was our first little battle we had. The two drivers were then asked whether the race had allowed the pair to “size each other up” before the start of the F1 season
Piastri added: “It was all friendly.” Norris responded: “We had strict orders. We couldn’t crash into each other.”
READ MORE: Zak Brown outlines what McLaren must do to keep Lando Norris
Meanwhile Piastri joins the team after Brown swooped for his services amid contract confusion at Alpine. Piastri ditched the team in favour of the British manufacturer despite opposition from Alpine boss Otmar Szafnauer.
McLaren eventually came out on top in a Contract Recognition Board (CRB) ruling over the Australian’s services. Brown said: “We’ve got our veteran Lando back in our race car and our rookie driver Oscar which is going to be quite exciting,
He added: “Our future’s looking strong, a lot of our technology projects are coming to fruition now. We can see them and touch them and we will be active with the wind tunnel and simulation and things of that nature later on this year.”
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