Interview
Piastri feels completely at home at McLaren: 'Success is really a bonus'
- Ludo van Denderen
In just his second season in Formula 1, Oscar Piastri won his first Grand Prix. Who would have expected that, after his first months in Formula 1, in which McLaren were by no means competitive? In any case, the current sporting successes are the ultimate proof that the Australian made the right choice in 2022 by signing a multi-year contract at McLaren.
With Oscar Piastri, Alpine seemed to have gold in their hands for years. The Australian talent became champion in Formula 3 and Formula 2, and was ready for Formula 1. But the French racing team decided not to put Piastri in one of their cars for 2022. During that year, Piastri decided to leave Alpine and sign with McLaren. Piastri has said more than enough about Alpine in the past, which is a closed book and, therefore, no longer something to be talked about.
Piastri felt welcome at McLaren
In conversation with GPblog Piastri did want to elaborate on why he eventually chose McLaren. The future vision and ambitions of McLaren explained by CEO Zak Brown played a prominent role. "There's always the plan to try and get back to the front. Every team has a plan to get back to the front. I think for me, I knew there was a lot of things technically that were in the pipeline for the team [McLaren], with the wind tunnel and the new simulator and stuff like that. I knew that there were things that were going to help along the way."
Once Piastri joined McLaren in 2023, the team were towards the back of the grid. "I wasn't expecting us to be as far back as we were. I was expecting to sort of come into a midfield team, roughly. We kind of went from one end straight through the midfield back to the other end. So I wouldn't really say Zak [Brown] had to sell me much. I think just the welcoming nature. Giving me the opportunity in F1 was very appreciated, regardless of the competitiveness of the team."
"Of course, I felt like the team had potential. I maybe didn't expect this much potential so quickly. But just the welcomingness and giving me the actual opportunity to race in F1 was by far the biggest thing. And I guess this success so early is really a bonus to that," Piastri said.
This article has been created in collaboration with Matt Gretton
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