F1 News
Piastri in place at McLaren: 'I've been able to repay that back to them'
- Sam Godber
With strong performances and even a podium finish during the sprint race at Spa, Oscar Piastri is running an impressive debut season. The McLaren driver is happy with his performance and seems to be fully in place at the McLaren team. In an interview with GPblog Piastri indicated that he is still hugely honoured by his reception at the team.
Piastri exceeds own expectations
Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris started the season in a McLaren that was far from being able to connect with the sub-top. After McLaren introduced some major updates at the Austrian Grand Prix, both cars fared much better and since then the drivers have been in full competition for the prizes. Debutant Piastri did have hopes of doing so before the start of the season, but he tempered expectations for himself:"So of course I hoped that, but maybe I wasn't fully convinced because of how competitive the whole grid is."
The young Australian loves the strong results, but there is another aspect within McLaren that he loves even more. On the way the team brought him in and treated him, Piastri says the following: "I think the biggest thing in that situation was McLaren's intent to have me in the team, how passionate they were to have me. Even since I've been in the team, how passionate they still are having me. It's been nice to, to be in an environment where I'm really wanted. I feel like I've been able to repay that back to them."
Legal battle between Alpine and McLaren
For a long time, Piastri seemed headed for a seat at Alpine for this year, but things turned out differently in the summer of 2022. McLaren also negotiated a contract with the Australian and after some legal wrangling over contracts, it turned out that the contract between Alpine and Piastri was not worth much. This also allowed McLaren to enlist him as Lando Norris's teammate.