Oscar Piastri thinks McLaren building a competitive car shows it’ has “nailed the hardest part” in Formula 1, but admits it must capitalise on that with added victories.
Piastri’s rookie campaign last term saw him encounter both ends of the F1 spectrum as McLaren enacted a turnaround from struggling to score to attaining podiums.
The Australian capitalised on that unprecedented reversal in fortunes to seize his maiden F1 podium in Japan and his first-ever win in a truncated Sprint race in Qatar.
McLaren has built upon that momentum this term to emerge as Red Bull’s most consistent contender since upgrades in Miami propelled Lando Norris to the top step.
However, the Woking-based squad has been unable to add to that breakthrough triumph in the succeeding rounds as it has rued squandering numerous opportunities.
Piastri was denied starting on the front row at Imola when he was hit with a grid drop for impeding Kevin Magnussen, while a contentious track limits violation prevented him from being in prime position to capitalise on Norris’ clash with Max Verstappen to be victorious in Austria.
Meanwhile, Piastri was circulating second behind his team-mate at Silverstone when McLaren’s choice not to double stack its two drivers ended his hopes of winning.
But while he concedes the near misses have been bitter, Piastri has also taken positives from McLaren’s recent blunders not boiling down to repeating the same error.
Asked whether he thinks his first win under grand prix conditions was edging closer, Piastri replied: “I think definitely ready to do it.
“I think the kind of good thing but kind of bad thing is it’s never been the same thing that’s prevented us from winning.
“Today we made a wrong call, Imola we had an issue in qualifying with traffic, Austria… well…
“Yeah, so I guess it’s a good thing that it’s not been a repeated error or mistake.
“But yeah, I feel like there’s been a good handful now, I think on both sides of the garage, where we felt like we could have won the race.
“I think we’ve got the hardest part nailed, I think we’ve got an incredibly quick car, we just need to capitalise on using it.”
McLaren ended up in a position to prevail in the British Grand Prix with either car due to the MCL38 coming alive as the anticipated shower increased at the mid-point.
Both Norris and Piastri passed the front-row starting Mercedes cars in the mixed conditions in a scene that drew comparisons to the Canadian Grand Prix last month.
The ex-Alpine protege has admitted that he considers driving on a damp track on slicks both a strength he boasts as a driver and one where McLaren seems to thrive.
“I think those kind of conditions have always been good for us in the last 18 months,” Piastri explained.
“I think this year it’s not been as clear, but I think also for the Mercedes, they’re out in front, they’re the ones that are seeing the weather first.
“But clearly we were very strong in those conditions, and I felt like I was very strong.
“They’re incredibly tough conditions, you need to keep the tyres in the right window, you also need to take a lot of risks.
“And they’re conditions I’ve always loved in my career, so yeah, I think a combination of a lot of practice.”
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