McLaren has a problem. A nice problem, but a problem nevertheless. Oscar Piastri is just too good.
It’s exactly the problem every team wants: two drivers who are both capable of delivering the best results. McLaren saw it in Piastri from his junior career and moved decisively to secure his services when Alpine failed to do so two years ago, and got the slightly fluctuating performances you’d expect from a rookie in his debut season.
But the progress was clear to see then – culminating in his first Sprint victory in Qatar – and has continued this season, to the point that Piastri beat Lando Norris in four of the past five races. And across the nine rounds that were held in Europe, he was the leading scorer with 146 points compared to Norris’ 140 (although it should be pointed out Norris wins that battle 158 to 156 when you include the Canadian Grand Prix in the middle of it).
McLaren might have been given headaches to deal with in terms of how it approaches its drivers’ championship pursuit of Max Verstappen, but those are welcome ones as they come as a mark of Piastri’s development.
“I would say definitely [I’ve seen the improvement] yes,” Piastri tells RACER. “I think a lot of the tracks where it’s my second time going there this year have been better. In qualifying, over one lap, I was generally OK in most places we went last year, but in some of the races I did really struggle.
“This year – apart from maybe China, which coincidentally was a new track (for me) – there’s not been any races where I’ve left the race going ‘I need to find a lot of pace here, and really need to dig into why’. So I think a lot of the tire management side of things, or just finding race pace, has been a massive step forward in the off-season.
“From Bahrain, which is always a tough track on tires, I set the tone to myself of, ‘I’ve made a big improvement here’. Yes, there’s still some things to go, but a big chunk of it, I now know what to do and am able to do it consistently.
“There’s still been different challenges – some tracks challenge a different axle a bit more, some tracks are higher deg than others – but I feel like for a general rule of thumb, I’ve improved massively in my race management and my race pace.”
Those gains have been clear to see, with Piastri taking his first F1 victory in Hungary, a race where he struggled with degradation and finished nearly half a minute behind Norris a year earlier.
His ability to deliver under pressure was on full display this past weekend in Baku, too, where he held off Charles Leclerc for some 30 laps despite not appearing to have a clear pace advantage. It showed how calm Piastri is running at the front, something he felt from an early stage of his rookie season.
“I think through my first season, I obviously didn’t win any races – well, I won a Sprint race, but that doesn’t count – but I think I had some good results. And if I was to pinpoint a couple, I would say even my second weekend in Saudi qualifying, to be in Q3 which at the time was a good effort for us, that was a good conference boost.
“Then having the weekend I did at Silverstone, I would say those two moments were kind of like, ‘alright, I’m not out of my depth here’. I never thought I was, but until you actually see the proof of it, there’s always slight question marks about it. So sfter that, I kind of felt like I belonged, and that I could really race at the front and take it to everyone.
“As you gain more experience with that, (the confidence) comes a bit more. Then obviously the back end of the year, getting my first podium, winning the Sprint race, that really cemented it for me. So I think winning in Hungary was more just the confidence boost of, I had an opportunity to win an F1 race, probably my first one that wasn’t hampered out of my own control, let’s say, and I was able to achieve it.
“That was where the confidence came from, rather than saying ‘I beat the other guys’. At the end of the day, we had a car that was quicker than everyone else’s, and it was down to us two as McLaren drivers, and I was proud that I managed to put in the work early in the race to make that happen.”
Even at this relatively early point in his career, Piastri has noticed that the expectations are growing. McLaren is now being a front-running team, and that has led to increased attention.
“I guess from the outside, yes, it does put a bit more expectation and a bit more spotlight on you of course,” he says. “But for me and the team, it doesn’t change that much. It always feels a little bit weird after qualifying, such as qualifying third and being disappointed. But when you’re chasing perfection and chasing the maximum potential of the car, which on that day was pole, it makes sense to feel that way.
“So I think the expectation of trying to get the most out of car doesn’t change at all. Obviously the results have a bit more weight behind them, but I think that’s more sort of the external perception, rather than inside. My mindset has always been that no matter what car we’ve got, whether it’s been a car that’s capable of scraping a point or finishing on the podium or winning the race, I always wanted to make sure that I made the most of that opportunity.
“When the car’s capable of finishing 10th, and you finish 10th, you feel happy. When the car is capable of finishing first, and you finish fourth – which is obviously a lot better than finishing 10th – it’s still not the most of the car can do. So from that side, I think it’s still the same.”
What isn’t the same is the team orders situation. Not in the sense that McLaren now says Piastri could be asked to support Norris in his pursuit of Verstappen when the situation calls for it, but just the fact that such instructions can come into play in F1 when they are essentially non-existent in junior categories.
“The reason for the big difference is in the junior categories you’re paying the teams, and in F1 the teams are paying you in 99% of cases. So that’s really where the difference lies.
“Even in the junior categories, though, maybe it doesn’t start early, but in the last race of the year, I’ve not had people pulling over for me to win championships, but I’ve had teammates not making life as difficult as they normally would for me. So I’ve kind of experienced it a bit before, and thankfully, I’ve been on the receiving end of the help.
“It is something to get used to, but in my eyes anyway, it is very easy to see when you join F1 just how much of a team effort it is. One of the differences is, instead of having 30 people working for you in F2, which seems like a lot at the time, you’ve got 1000. And when you consider how much money is put in, how many sponsors are involved, how many people are involved, you’ve got all sorts of things that there’s a much bigger picture than just ‘do it for me’, and it becomes very easy to put that into perspective.
“Of course, when you start fighting for race wins and championships at the end of the day, we’re racing drivers, and we want our own personal success. But I think for me, a real strength of the team is that we are allowed to have our personal success alongside the team success.
“I think Lando and I have worked incredibly well at, whilst we’ve been trying to get there, very much prioritizing the team. There’s never, ever been a situation – even now that we’re fighting at the front – between us in terms of egos.
“So I think that’s been a real strength for us, but it is something to get used to a little bit. Once you put the bigger picture into perspective, for me, it becomes a pretty easy decision in terms of doing it.
“Also, you know that the team is there to help you, and burning your bridges with the team you’re racing for is never a smart idea. So even if at the time, sometimes it might seem a bit painful, there is always a bigger picture.”
Given his rapid development over the past 18 months, that bigger picture could well lead to Piastri putting himself in a position to be fighting for that same support next year. Or perhaps even sooner, if something remarkable happens in the coming seven races…