Oscar Piastri’s second season in Formula 1 is much more successful than his debut: after 14 stages, the Australian McLaren driver is in 4th place in the individual standings, just 10 points behind Charles Leclerc and 32 points behind his teammate Lando Norris. Thanks to the success of its drivers, the Woking team is ahead of Ferrari in the constructors’ championship and is gradually closing the gap to Red Bull Racing.
Oscar opened his winning streak by winning the Hungarian Grand Prix last month and has finished on the podium four times this year, including second place in the recent race in Belgium.
“I think I have made good progress by working on the areas where I wanted to improve compared to last year,” he summarised the results of the first part of the championship. “I think I have done well to solve the problems that I set myself at the end of last season. I would say that I have been able to make noticeable steps forward in all areas.
“Of course there is still work to be done, but the progress is clear. It is important that the season goes well, both from the team’s perspective and from my personal perspective. McLaren gave Lando and I a car that we can win races with. We have reached the contenders because the MCL38 is incredibly quick, and that is what really matters.”
At the same time, however, Piastri stresses that the results could have been even better: “There was a feeling that some opportunities were missed, because there were some things that were beyond our control. Like in Miami (where the safety car came on track at the wrong time and his teammate won the race), or the situation on the track limits in Austria – I mean technically it was up to me, but in my case the lap time was invalidated in controversial circumstances.
But there were also races where we could influence the situation – the most recent example was at Silverstone. To some extent this was the case in Canada, and to some extent in Imola, where we got a penalty in qualifying. Overall, the results have to be seen positively in my opinion, but I think there was potential to do even better. I am of course very happy that we are now in such a favourable position.”
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
