McLaren says that it has faith in Oscar Piastri to become one of the strongest drivers on the Formula 1 grid in the future.
Piastri is one of three rookies in the 2023 field, joining McLaren in place of Daniel Ricciardo who departed after two difficult years with the team.
Piastri boasts a strong junior career, winning the Formula 3 and Formula 2 titles at his first attempt.
After gathering F1 experience with the Alpine team, Piastri was poached by McLaren for the 2023 campaign and made his grand prix debut in Bahrain.
However, it wasn’t a dream start for the Australian, as he was forced to retire early on in the race with an issue.
Speaking in an interview with F1, team boss Andrea Stella heaped praise on the 21-year-old.
“Oscar is new to F1 but he is proven winning material in junior categories,” he said. “He has been doing very well so far – we are very pleased.
“The level of talent, the level of progress we have seen day by day, during testing, is very encouraging, and kind of confirms that he is a strong prospect for the future.”
Piastri is racing alongside Lando Norris at McLaren, who is enduring his fifth season with the papaya-coloured outfit.
Although he has inferior experience compared to the Briton, Stella says that Piastri possesses a strong knack for detail – which he believes will take him far in his F1 career.
“What impresses us is his awareness of his opportunities while driving,” Stella said.
“He could come back and make comments like, ‘I think I braked a little too early in corner one, I didn’t go on the throttle early enough in four’. Then you look at the data and it is exactly it,.
“Then he goes out for the second run and he cashes in on these opportunities.
“For me, this is a definition of talent [and] we see a lot of it. We are also, like I said before, pleased with the improvement we have seen day by day.
“F1 is a very, very competitive game, so he just has to go through his own trajectory, and I’m sure the final destination will be one of the best drivers on the grid.”
Discussion about this post