Piastri on 'awesome' test day with McLaren: 'A pretty special one'

Piastri has had a chaotic year. The new McLaren recruit was actually supposed to take a seat in the Alpine in 2023 following Fernando Alonso's sudden departure, but it later emerged that the young Australian was unaware of the French team's Formula 1 announcement. Meanwhile, Piastri himself held talks with McLaren, the team he will indeed drive for next year.

Alpine released Piastri for the Pirelli tyre test in Abu Dhabi. He competed there alongside new teammate Lando Norris. The young Australian will replace compatriot Daniel Ricciardo next season, who has left McLaren early after disappointing performances.

Piastri starts 2023 preparations at McLaren

"It's a cool feeling," Piastri tells opposite Formula1.com about his first day in the McLaren car. "It was awesome to have my first day with McLaren, get to know everyone in the team and try and improve, get back up to speed for next year. A pretty special one. I think having today especially was really important, a really positive thing to have."

The aim of the test day was mainly to get to know everyone in the team, as lap times don't say much anyway. Piastri will start working full-time for McLaren before the end of the year. "I’m in the factory next week to have my official introduction which will be nice and meet everyone there. A lot of people to meet so I’m looking forward to that. After that, continue with work in the sim, get to know my engineers and mechanics better."