Formula 1: McLaren rookie Oscar Piastri on his debut season and what’s next

Aussie young gun Oscar Piastri reflects on his debut F1 season with McLaren, future world champion talk and ‘random fan encounters’.

Oscar Piastri of Australia. Picture: Getty Images

He was labelled a future Formula One world champion before his rookie season had barely taken off and now Australian young gun Oscar Piastri is confident McLaren is on the “right trajectory” to help put him in the title fight.

As he underlined McLaren’s ambition to be the next team “waiting in the wings” to take the battle to Red Bull and the all-conquering Max Verstappen, Piastri said he would make sure he was ready to seize his opportunity should it present itself as early as next year.

In an interview reflecting on his debut season in F1, Piastri conceded it would be “difficult” to push on to the podium for the rest of his 2023 campaign, but is already plotting what a 2024 challenge could look like.

Arriving in F1 as one of the most anticipated rookies in years, Piastri has shown plenty of promise in his debut season, overcoming a challenging start to the year to showcase his talents as McLaren delivered much-needed upgrades.

Asked about the potential to be in the title mix as soon as next season if McLaren could continue to make improvements, the 22-year-old Melburnian said he would be ready to strike if the opportunity came.

“At the moment, Red Bull still have a big edge on everybody, but we want to finish out this year being the next team that is waiting in the wings to take the fight to them or waiting for a mistake,” Piastri said.

Oscar Piastri is upbeat about his future with McLaren. Picture: Getty Images

“It’s probably a bit early or premature to start thinking of a title challenge next year just yet, but if we roll out of the blocks quickly then, who knows? Anything could be possible.

“I feel like I could be ready ... you have to be ready when that chance arrives because you never know if you’ll get another one.

“It would be a very cool prospect, but at the moment I think we’ve still got a few things to work on as a team before we can consistently challenge.

“We have made a hell of a lot of progress, which has been really good to see and I think we still have a little bit more to go.

“But if that opportunity arrives, I will make sure I’m as ready as I can be.”
Arriving in F1 on the back of three consecutive junior championship crowns, Piastri was labelled a “future world champion” by his McLaren boss Zak Brown after just a handful of races this year.

Since McLaren’s significant upgrade package, Piastri has underlined his potential, finishing just short of the podium (fourth) at Silverstone before claiming a Sprint race podium in the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa.

In all, he has finished inside the points on six occasions so far this year.

“We have made a lot of progress through this season, it was a lot of faith and commitment to bring me into the team which I’m very thankful for,” Piastri said.

“It’s been a really enjoyable season so far and I feel like I’m very quickly becoming at home in the team and it’s just a nice place to be, so we want to, of course, be fighting for the front and fighting for world championships and I think we are on the right trajectory for that.”

As for the future world champion talk?

“It’s nice to have, especially from Zak, it’s always nice to have that support from people around you and the team around you,” Piastri said.

“I’m sure there are a lot of people on this grid that you could say given the right opportunities, they could become world champions.

“It’s nice, but I don’t focus on it too much. Whether I could be a world champion in the future or not, it doesn’t impact how I drive each weekend.”

Sprint winner Max Verstappen (second from left), Second placed Oscar Piastri of Australia and McLaren (L), Third placed Pierre Gasly of France and Alpine F1 (second from right) and Jacky Ickx in Spa, Belgium. Picture: Getty Images

RATING HIS ROOKIE SEASON

Now halfway through his debut campaign, Piastri said his season had been “pretty good on the whole”, but he was focused on ironing out some “rookie mistakes”.

“There have still been a few mistakes and moments I want to get rid of, but I think there have also been some very good moments as well,” Piastri said.

“I feel like as the car has improved I feel like I have been able to go with it and be able to deliver for the most part.

“Zandvoort was a little bit messy, but I think in terms of pace and stuff like that it was still solid, just a couple of mistakes that hampered the weekend unfortunately. But on the whole I would say (the year has been) quite good, just a few rookie mistakes I would say and a lot of learning.”

Piastri rated his Sprint race podium in Spa as the highlight of his season.

“The Saturday in Spa has been the highlight, qualifying second for the sprint then finishing second in the sprint, I think that was definitely the highest point so far,” he said.

“I feel like on a personal level, I was really happy with how I drove that day.

“Silverstone as well was another big highlight and I think being the team’s home race, we had the first opportunity to fight for podiums and I was able to do that.”

With nine races remaining in this year’s campaign, Piastri acknowledged it would be a challenge to score podiums as he visited a host of track he as not yet raced at.

“The Red Bulls are still very quick and we kind of have to take advantage of any opportunities that arise there and, of course, Lando (Norris) is not an easy teammate to beat either,” he said.

“There are a lot of teams around us that are very quick as well - Mercedes have looked very quick in the last few weekends, so it’s not easy.

“I think I’ve only raced on one of the circuits for the remainder of the year after Monza so there is going to be a lot of learning, so I just want to try to be consistent and be proud of my performances at the end of each weekend.”

Piastri’s fanbase is rapidly growing. Picture: AFP

HANDLING F1 FAME

While Piastri felt he was well drilled for life on the F1 circuit with his motorsport education progressing through the feeder F3 and F2 categories, he said nothing could really prepare him for the attention he has faced since making his F1 debut.

There have been more “random fan encounters” and as Piastri’s results on the track have improved, so too has the focus off-track.

“I think as we started getting some better results maybe a few more people started to know who I was and asking for photos and stuff like that,” Piastri said.

“That’s probably been the biggest thing that you can’t really prepare for ... that has probably been the only thing that has been a little bit unexpected.

“It’s definitely something to get used to and there is not really any way you can prepare for it. I feel like I have been quite well prepared coming into F1, but that’s not really something you can study and learn for and learn from past experience – maybe there are a few examples of what not to do – but everyone handles it in a different way.

“I am definitely having a few more random fan encounters.”

But Piastri has welcomed the support from the papaya fans.

“It’s very nice to have people supporting you and wanting you to do well,” he said.

“At times it can be a lot, but it’s part of the sport and at the end of the day the fans are the reason we are able to go racing. If it wasn’t for all their support, we wouldn’t have a sport.”

Lando Norris and Piastri have built a solid friendship. Picture: Getty Images

F1 GRID LIFE

While Piastri said he had built a strong relationship with McLaren teammate Lando Norris, he admitted it was hard to develop close friendships on the F1 grid when the drivers were on track “trying to beat each other”.

“I am quite close with Lando I would say, we spend the most time together out of anyone else,” Piastri said.

“I have grown up with Logan (Sargeant) through my junior career so we know each other quite well and I am getting to know a lot of people.

“But it is very difficult to make genuine friendships because we are all out here trying to beat each other and as soon as the helmets go on, there are no friends anymore.”

In the McLaren garage, Norris has been a strong measuring stick for Piastri this year.

“He has been a very good reference for sure,” Piastri said. “He has established himself in his career as a very competitive driver, a very quick driver, so to be able to try and take the fight to him has been nice and I have definitely learned a lot in terms of how to drive this car just from looking at how he drives.

“He’s been a good teammate, we get along well and also he pushed the team in the same direction from a car point of view …. so it’s always easier when we’re saying the same things to the engineers.”