Oscar Piastri says leading his first laps in Formula 1 during the Belgian Grand Prix’s sprint on Saturday is an unforgettable experience. Max Verstappen started from pole position but heavy rain delayed the start and saw four additional formation …
Oscar Piastri says leading his first laps in Formula 1 during the Belgian Grand Prix’s sprint on Saturday is an unforgettable experience.
Max Verstappen started from pole position but heavy rain delayed the start and saw four additional formation laps completed behind the safety car to clear standing water and improve visibility. By the time the race started, Verstappen stayed out but Piastri immediately stopped for intermediates and took the lead for the next few laps as he undercut the Red Bull, but Verstappen eased past after another safety car period to win, with Piastri comfortably finishing second.
“Very, very happy. We tried our best,” Piastri said. “We boxed when the safety car came in, led a few laps. I tried my best but we were no match for Max. Nice to be up there in P2. I think, apart from Max, our pace was really strong, so full credit to the team again.
“The last three weekends we’ve had, it’s been pretty special, compared to where we have been, so I can’t thank them enough for the car. We’ve still got a little bit of work to do — clearly — to get right to the top, but it’s a lot nicer to be up there. To lead my first laps was a day I won’t forget.”
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1388]
Piastri had to lead the field to a restart and admits he was aware of the threat Verstappen would instantly pose but was surprised to be overtaken so quickly.
“You’re always focusing on trying to just do the best laps you can. I mean, when you’ve got Max and his car behind you, it doesn’t put your nerves at ease, put it that way. I knew it was going to be difficult to hold him behind, of course.
“I probably wasn’t expecting him to catch me literally at the top of Eau Rouge after the safety car restart, but such is our straight line speed. Yeah, it was cool. I was just focusing on trying to do the best job I could, knowing that it was probably going to be a ‘when’ Max came past, rather than an ‘if.’ But yeah, I tried my best and I think second was all we all had.
“I’ve done quite a few safety car restarts before, so it’s nothing new. But of course, you just try and do the best job you can in tricky conditions, with quite low tire temps at that point. So I tried the best that I could. I think I went a bit wide at Turn 1, which didn’t help things, but I don’t think it really made much difference. No, it was nice to be able to control a safety car restart again and hopefully there’s a few more opportunities in the future.”
Rewind 12 months and McLaren was about to find itself under intense scrutiny heading into Formula 1’s summer shutdown. It’s a time when no team really wants to be in that position, rather than being able to regroup ahead of the second part of the …
Rewind 12 months and McLaren was about to find itself under intense scrutiny heading into Formula 1’s summer shutdown. It’s a time when no team really wants to be in that position, rather than being able to regroup ahead of the second part of the season and focus on aspects other than the week-to-week racing schedule, while the majority of the team earn a well-earned break.
But having made the decision to sign Oscar Piastri for 2023 and yet to finalize exit terms with Daniel Ricciardo, the announcement that Fernando Alonso was heading to Aston Martin and Alpine’s attempts to retain Piastri thrust the driver decision into public view.
It was a very tough call for Zak Brown and his team to make given the popularity of Ricciardo and the potential that has arrival had come with, but it was one that many could at least understand even at the time. The pressure was on Piastri, who was tasked with proving to be at the very least a match for what eight-time winner Ricciardo had done and then build on his own potential.
Almost seems laughable that he was under any pressure now, doesn’t it?
Halfway through his rookie season, Piastri is proving not only an ideal wingman for Norris but a strong contender in his own right. Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images
But there was another point between last August and now that threatened to provide Piastri and McLaren with an even bigger challenge, as there was a senior leadership overhaul on the horizon. And it’s probably fair at this stage that I repeat how I closed a column back in March, as McLaren announced those changes off the back of its worst start to a season since 2017:
“According to Brown, that’s the drivers, the facilities and the personnel all in place. It remains to be seen if it all clicks, but having moved from a technical department run by committee to a more traditional setup and now back again, any potential excuses are running out.”
While it would be remiss to judge all of those decisions on the four months that have followed — and rather than against the longer-term target of fighting for wins and championships that McLaren has in place — I’m sure there are few who would disagree that things have gone pretty well since then…
Brown was adamant that Andrea Stella was the right man to replace Andreas Seidl, hence the speed of that transition over the winter when Audi came calling for the former team principal. But Stella also saw changes that he felt were imperative when it came to the technical set-up, and the entire team was talking down its chances pre-season as it wasn’t happy with its launch car.
With the benefit of hindsight, such an unusual approach was clearly being followed because of the confidence that McLaren had in its ability to improve the situation in the short term. There were directions already being explored that offered significant performance gains, and light could be seen at the end of the tunnel that wasn’t all that far away.
James Key’s departure suggested a scapegoat had been found to take the fall for the missed opportunities with the early 2023 car, but his rapid hiring by Seidl at Hinwil suggests there a structure one team principal wants that another doesn’t, and much like Ricciardo’s performances there’s a chance Key finds a better fit back in Switzerland.
But none of that detracts from the fact that Stella and Brown had made the right decisions, with both showing a ruthlessness that has led to a rapid recovery.
Ricciardo still had a contract for 2023, don’t forget, but rather than miss out on a driver that McLaren felt could be a future star, Brown ended that partnership early to grab Piastri. The same is true of Key as the likes of Rob Marshall and David Sanchez were hired for the evolving technical team.
The latter of those changes did build a semblance of pressure, as the finger was pointed at others amid such a disappointing start to the season. It helped Piastri to some extent because expectations had dropped so low that the driver focus was actually on how McLaren intended on retaining Lando Norris moving forward.
The most obvious answer is to give him a car capable of fighting at the front, and in the space of two weeks between Canada and Austria it did just that.
“We’re Number 2” might not seem the sweetest thing to celebrate, but for McLaren it’s proof of a dramatic turnaround in performance. Michael Potts/Motorsport Images
Of course the work had been ongoing for a much longer time but the update did not flatter to deceive at the Red Bull Ring. In fact, it was perhaps failing to show its true potential, that was only really seen at the Hungaroring last weekend. On a track with few high-speed corners, and with high track temperatures that had proven McLaren’s weakness earlier in the year, the drivers were still able to lock-out the front row.
And who knows, perhaps a double podium was a possibility had Piastri not picked up floor damage that seemed to really hit him in his second and third stints after an encouraging first part of the race.
Instead, the rookie has to be content with feeling unfortunate for two weekends in a row — unfortunate in that they “only” yielded a pair of top-five results while Norris picked up back-to-back second places for the first time in his career. Perhaps more tellingly, though, it was also the first pair of podiums McLaren has managed in more than a decade, stretching back to Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button securing consecutive victories to close out 2012.
It might have taken nearly 11 years to enjoy such strong weekend results in succession, but in the space of four months, McLaren has gone from a team looking in real trouble to arguably the nearest challenger to Red Bull, and in doing so has been cited as an inspiration to the rest of the chasing pack that such big gains are possible mid-season under these new regulations.
By the same token, such fluctuations mean there’s still no guarantee McLaren is there to stay, and it does have a long way to go to truly threaten for wins — let alone championships — while the lack of a works power unit deal in 2026 could also be a hurdle to overcome too. But the past year has shown that when the calls get tough, McLaren tends to get them right.
Oscar Piastri was pained at having missed out on an opportunity for his first podium finish in Formula 1 after he was demoted to fourth place in the British Grand Prix during a safety car period. The McLaren rookie was shadowing teammate Lando …
Oscar Piastri was pained at having missed out on an opportunity for his first podium finish in Formula 1 after he was demoted to fourth place in the British Grand Prix during a safety car period.
The McLaren rookie was shadowing teammate Lando Norris throughout the first half of the race at Silverstone, with the pair running second and third to Max Verstappen and with the pace to pull away from Ferrari and Mercedes behind. However, Kevin Magnussen’s retirement came three laps after Piastri had made his pit stop, and with Lewis Hamilton having yet to pit the Mercedes driver was able to jump up to third place.
“Definitely, yep — it hurts to be so close to a podium,” Piastri said. “We were looking so good — we executed everything we could, we were pulling away from the cars behind, all to be one second too far behind pretty much when the SC came out. It hurts a little bit, but I’m so happy that I’m disappointed with P4, as opposed to what it’s been earlier in the season.”
Norris took the lead from Verstappen at the start and Piastri was also able to attack the Red Bull, but says he had his momentum halted because the front row blocked his route towards Turn 1.
“I was pretty excited to be honest, when I got off the line and was like, ‘OK, I’ve got the best start out of everyone here’ and had to find somewhere to go. I ran out of space, but I think the more exciting part was being able to hang onto the back of him for a few laps — and even for the rest of the race it wasn’t like he was stupidly quicker than us. So that was very exciting — to be genuinely the second-quickest team today exceeded all of our expectations.”
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1388]
Despite the disappointment of not picking up a trophy, Piastri says the more encouraging aspect is validation that McLaren has improved its race pace after some difficult Sundays earlier this season.
“Still a bit more to come, too,” he said. “I’ve got the new front wing next weekend which Lando had, which is exciting, a couple more other bits, so yeah, nice to know we’re fighting here and we still have a little bit more to come.
“Clearly the upgrade’s a massive step forward — very good step forward over one lap, but the race pace is clearly where we’ve made a massive jump. Going into the race I was maybe slightly cautious we’d hit reverse like we have done recently but if anything it was even stronger than Austria, so that was super exciting.”
Oscar Piastri admits his first top-three result in qualifying at the British Grand Prix is “very special” after a stunning day for McLaren. Qualifying took place in damp conditions but stayed dry enough for slicks throughout and as the track dried …
Oscar Piastri admits his first top-three result in qualifying at the British Grand Prix is “very special” after a stunning day for McLaren.
Qualifying took place in damp conditions but stayed dry enough for slicks throughout and as the track dried further McLaren came on strongly to secure second place with Lando Norris and Piastri in third. Receiving the updated McLaren at Silverstone — one race after Norris — the Australian pulled out the best result of his rookie season to date and says he took his opportunity when it came.
“It’s very special to be in the top three,” Piastri said. “It’s been a couple of years since I’ve been to one of these press conferences so it’s nice to be back. It’s been a great day — even this weekend, we thought we could get into the top 10 at least.
“When the conditions were looking like they were, it’s generally been solid for us previously. I think we went in quietly confident that we could pull off something pretty special and we managed to do it. Happy with the lap I did — wasn’t too much left out there.”
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1388]
Given the changing conditions, Piastri says McLaren responds well to such situations and took full advantage with both cars.
“I think we’ve had about four of those (type of) sessions this year. I think we’re all getting good practice with it, but those conditions, most drivers really enjoy them. They’re always tricky to get right — you need to find where the grip is on the track. Sometimes you couldn’t see where the grip was, you just had to pray you were on a dry bit of track.
“I really enjoy those conditions, and so does our car it seems. I think we did a good job, managing on the team side. When it comes to qualifying, nine times out of 10 we do a good job with that. Full credit to the team for the calls today — and the car as well, clearly it was working well today.”
While not getting two carried away by the qualifying showing, Piastri is hopeful that McLaren can at least keep both drivers in the top 10 given the race pace shown by the updated car in Austria last weekend.
“Firstly stay in the points, I think that would be good,” he reckoned. “I think we have to see what our race pace was like. Lando showed last week that we can hang on in the races now to a much better extent. Hopefully we can try do the same tomorrow. Staying in the top three will be tricky with quite a few quick cars behind us, but definitely a solid points score can be on the cards.”
Charles Leclerc has been given a three-place grid penalty for the sprint at the Austrian Grand Prix after impeding Oscar Piastri in the sprint shootout. The Ferrari driver was on the apex at Turn 9 as Piastri approached on a flying lap, with the …
Charles Leclerc has been given a three-place grid penalty for the sprint at the Austrian Grand Prix after impeding Oscar Piastri in the sprint shootout.
The Ferrari driver was on the apex at Turn 9 as Piastri approached on a flying lap, with the McLaren driver having to slow to avoid contact and being eliminated in Q1 of the Saturday morning qualifying session for the sprint. Although a substantial proportion of the blame was attributed to Ferrari for a lack of communication with Leclerc, a grid penalty was handed out that applies only to sprint events.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1388]
“The driver of Car 81 stated that as he approached Turn 9 he saw that Car 16 was traveling slowly and had to brake, reducing his speed by approximately 45 km/h over the previous push lap,” the stewards’ decision read. “This was verified by the stewards referencing the telemetry of Car 81. It was confirmed Car 81 lost approximately 0.5 of a second in that mini- sector (5.3s v 4.8s).
“The driver of Car 16 stated that the last call he had from his team was when he was approaching Turn 4 (‘Piastri six seconds’) and that he saw Car 81 in his mirrors as he was in Turn 8 and Car 81 was in Turn 7.
“The Team Representative of Car 16 stated that the team ‘could have done better’ in communicating the rapid approach of Car 81 and its driver stated that, ‘If I had been warned I could have done something earlier.’
“Accordingly we determine that although this was not entirely the fault of the driver, and that the team’s lack of communication was the major contributing factor, a grid position penalty must be imposed as Car 81 was ‘unnecessarily impeded,’ because there is no doubt that the situation could have been avoided.”
Leclerc is demoted from sixth on the sprint grid to ninth place, promoting Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll and Esteban Ocon. In the unlikely event that Leclerc doesn’t take part in the sprint, the penalty will only carry over to the next sprint event and not Sunday’s grand prix itself.
McLaren has lodged a petition for its right of review into the penalty given to Lando Norris during the Canadian Grand Prix. Norris was handed a five-second time penalty for “unsportsmanlike behavior” in Montreal having been deemed by the stewards …
McLaren has lodged a petition for its right of review into the penalty given to Lando Norris during the Canadian Grand Prix.
Norris was handed a five-second time penalty for “unsportsmanlike behavior” in Montreal having been deemed by the stewards to have slowed down excessively behind the safety car in order to create a gap to teammate Oscar Piastri in front before pitting. Norris was confused by the penalty — that dropped him from ninth in the race to 13th in the results — and McLaren is now seeking a review.
In order to be granted that review, the team must convince the FIA that it has a significant and relevant new element that was not available to the stewards at the time the decision was made.
“We are very supportive of the FIA and the stewards, and we trust them while they carry out what is a difficult job,” a McLaren statement read. “We appreciate stewards need to make decisions in a short timeframe, analyzing complex scenarios and often with partial information and multiple elements to consider.
“In Canada, we were surprised by the penalty and uncertain as to the rationale behind the decision. We spoke to the stewards immediately after the race to help understand the reasoning for the penalty.
“The FIA’s regulatory framework has tools and processes which allow them and the sport to deal with the operational complexity of Formula 1, especially for decisions which need to be made during the race. The “right of review” is one of those processes which showcases the strength of the institution in allowing decisions to be reviewed, should that be in the best interest of the sport and this is something McLaren fully embraces and supports.
“Given this provision, the team took the initial explanation onboard and decided to review the case in a calm and considered manner, performing comprehensive due diligence, which included looking at the precedents. After this careful and extensive review, we believe enough evidence exists to…submit a “right to review” to the FIA, which we have done…
“We will now continue to work with the FIA closely, in the same constructive and collaborative manner in which we normally do, and will accept the outcome of their deliberations and decision.”
McLaren’s double point-scoring result in the Australian Grand Prix was particularly important as it stops the team being too far adrift before its first round of upgrades, according to Oscar Piastri. Two scoreless races had left McLaren at the …
McLaren’s double point-scoring result in the Australian Grand Prix was particularly important as it stops the team being too far adrift before its first round of upgrades, according to Oscar Piastri.
Two scoreless races had left McLaren at the bottom of the constructors’ championship heading to Melbourne, but sixth place for Lando Norris and eighth for Piastri moved it up to fifth overall in the space of one weekend. McLaren has acknowledged it isn’t happy with its launch-spec 2023 car and is set for a major raft of updates in Baku next time out, and Piastri says that makes the result even more valuable.
“To have both of us in the points is good,” Piastri said. “Obviously it hasn’t been a great first few races for the team but largely things out of our control. More things out of our control went right I guess to get us into the points, but to get this amount of points this early in the year is a great result.
“We’ve also got some upgrades coming in Baku and later through the year, so to be able to get some points on the board with the car we have at the moment I think is really important.”
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1388]
While Norris ran in the top 10 throughout on Sunday, Piastri wasn’t in the frame for points until late red flags accounted for the two Alpine drivers, and he admits it felt like payback for misfortune in the opening two rounds.
“Maybe a little bit, yeah. The first two races really couldn’t have gone much worse I would say for the team. In Bahrain we both had our issues and Saudi the contact wiping out both of us, so it was nice to be on the good end of things going wrong for other people.”
One area McLaren appeared to be clearly lacking in Melbourne was in straight line speed as Piastri struggled to pass Yuki Tsunoda, but the rookie believes the deficit is not as big as it appears but wasn’t helped by his own lack of experience.
“It’s tricky. We obviously know we’re quite slow on the straights at the moment, which is something that we’re looking to address and I think the AlphaTauri probably wasn’t that much quicker in a straight line, but I think even with the fourth DRS it’s still difficult to overtake here. I think for me, still some learning to do on how to use the battery most effectively to overtake but I had a lot of practice with it, so still good learning.”
McLaren will make sure Oscar Piastri is not affected by the demands of his first home race at the Australian Grand Prix in order to continue what the team describes as an “exceptional rate of development”. Piastri was signed by McLaren last summer …
McLaren will make sure Oscar Piastri is not affected by the demands of his first home race at the Australian Grand Prix in order to continue what the team describes as an “exceptional rate of development”.
Piastri was signed by McLaren last summer to replace the struggling Daniel Ricciardo, making his debut in the opening race of this season after a year out from racing. After encouraging signs from the young Australian – including his first Q3 appearance in Saudi Arabia – team principal Andrea Stella is confident he will handle himself well in Melbourne but says the team will also help.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1388]
“He is a very calm guy, I think he will be able to keep himself in the bubble,” Stella said. “But certainly we’ll have to make sure that he can stay focused on racing, and he can stay focused on keeping up with this exceptional rate of development session after session.”
McLaren has yet to score a point in the opening two rounds of the season and is bottom of the constructors’ championship after suffering damage to both cars on the opening lap in Jeddah, but Stella sees Piastri’s progress as one of the biggest positives for the team.
“It was a weekend in which we went for the first time this year in Q3. We have seen really strong progress by Oscar. Obviously, Lando (Norris) is a complete certainty. So we know that Lando is there. So there’s some positives, but for me the message stays the same. We need to work hard to improve the car and go back racing where we should belong.
“I wouldn’t say that he took a big step. For me it’s going steady progress session by session. But, if you look back, already in FP1 he was a little bit more competitive than Bahrain, then FP2 closer, then FP3 pretty much a match for Lando, capitalizing in qualifying, and then very strong in the race. For me, I see more the sense of constant progression, which is ultimately the plan that we have with Oscar.”
And Stella is hopeful that Piastri will have a chance to repeat his Q3 performance in Melbourne as he believes the Albert Park circuit should suit McLaren in a similar way to the previous race.
“As a track in in terms of tarmac grip, speed of the corners, I would say it should be more similar to Saudi then Bahrain. So we look forward to that place in terms of being able again to challenge for Q3 and challenge for good points.”
