Oscar Piastri: So good so far

Oscar Piastri is gradually adjusting to the McLaren team, getting used to a new car for him, and before the fourth leg of the season commented on his work on the first three. He finished in the top ten for the first time at his home Australian Grand Prix, where he managed to take 8th after starting from 16th position.

He then did some private testing at Imola with the MCL35M, a 2021 car, which was also a rewarding experience. And before heading to Baku for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Oscar visited the team’s base in Woking where he prepared for the upcoming weekend.

Oscar Piastri: “The learning process continues, but I feel that I am adapting more and more. This is always the case with any new car. Compared to all the other series I’ve competed in before, Formula 1 has completely different technical regulations and the downforce here is mainly generated by the underside of the car, but I’m getting used to it.

The tires are also very different from those I’ve driven before, including the rubber used in Formula 1 in the past. Overall there are a lot of differences, but every time I get behind the wheel I feel more comfortable .

I already understood how intense the rivalry is in the middle of the pack. We are not yet in the positions we want to be – McLaren is trying to fight with the top four teams. But now we have to do everything we can to stay in the middle of the pack and not roll back to more distant positions.

Personally, I think that so far everything is going more or less well. As pre-season testing progressed, I felt more and more comfortable driving the MCL60. The weekend in Bahrain went well. I think we were nervous in qualifying but the race started well but just ended with a retirement.

The weekend in Saudi Arabia was successful in that I felt more and more comfortable in the car with each session. Although the race didn’t go the way we wanted, I was happy with my job and everything I had under control.

Melbourne was my home race, my compatriots cheered for me, and it was an interesting and rewarding experience. I continued to study, although at some point it was possible to work better on the track. But it was nice to earn my first points this year, which also added to the team’s coffers.

I think so far everything is going well, because it seems to me that I am working better and better. It looks like the track is moving upwards and we manage to squeeze more and more out of our car. I hope we can make it a little faster.

It’s great that we were able to work at the circuit in Imola and do some laps there. It’s always fun, and it’s also good for neck training and other aspects of fitness related to driving Formula 1 cars. The more laps I do, the more time I spend with the engineers, the better for me.”