Oscar Piastri’s venture into Formula 1 has been a rather complicated one. From a messy contractual issue at Alpine last year to fighting to get off the back row at McLaren this year, the Australian hasn’t had the easiest of entries into the sport.
Looking at Piastri’s junior career it couldn’t have gone better for him even if he wrote it himself, winning the FIA Formula 3 and Formula 2 championship at the first time of asking with 164 points in Formula 3 and 252.5 points in Formula 2.
With only one points finish in three races in his first season in Formula 1, the Aussie has made the most of a difficult car. A P8 at the Australian Grand Prix, where it means most, puts him just four points behind his more experienced team-mate Lando Norris, a driver who has also suffered behind the steering wheel of McLaren’s latest creations for the past two years.
When asked about Piastri’s progress from the start of the season, the Brit was full of praise for his stablemate who is pushing him harder than Ricciardo did according to the man himself.
“He’s doing a very good job, handling the pressure extremely well I would say, I think that is something that is very strong that I’ve seen in him. He’s calm, he’s controlled and he’s quick, so I feel like he’s got a lot of what you need.
“He’s pushing me more than what I’ve had the last few years, which is a good thing for us as a team as well.”
The Australian’s adaptability has been an eye opener for team-mate Lando Norris who’s being kept “on his toes” as the season goes on.
“He’s understood the car well,” said Norris.
“It’s obviously not an easy car to drive, I think that’s been made clear with past drivers and comments I’ve made over the years.”
McLaren Team boss, Andrea Stella, echoes Norris’s words of praise for the man who was born in Melbourne: “What we see is that Oscar is close to Lando in most of the corners.
“When your teammate is so competitive, it becomes a reference [for Norris].
“This year, the closeness between the two drivers is certainly much better than what we saw last year.”
