When we last left the 2023 Formula 1 season, the biggest jump had come from McLaren, who, after finishing in the points in only three of the first eight races, scored in the last four races before the summer break, with a big upgrade at Silverstone resulting in two podiums for Lando Norris, his and the team’s first since Imola last season. They moved ahead of Alpine in the Constructors’ Championship to sit in 5th.
For teammate Oscar Piastri, what had been a disastrous rookie season because of the slow package he had, has been revived with 29 of his 34 points coming in the last three races to lift him to 11th in points so far. The season resumes this weekend at Zandvoort, and the momentum will have to be maintained at a track that Piastri has never raced before.
“I’ve done a few laps around here, I’d say maybe 15 or 20 in a Formula Renault, in a practice session a few years ago, so it’s not completely new. The speed at which all these corners come at me is going to be new, but[…] it’s an old school track. I think it’ll probably take all Friday to be close to fully at speed, sleep on it, process it and then hopefully by Saturday it’s OK.”
Once they do get up to speed, Piastri is optimistic that he and McLaren will pick up where they left off at Spa on Friday and Saturday in the mixed conditions. Piastri qualified P2 in the sprint shootout and finished the sprint in the same spot.
“I think we’ve been able to show in the last few races with three different layouts, we had some clear weaknesses, but our actual car pace overall still wasn’t that bad, especially in mixed conditions it was still strong. So I think we can be reasonably confident that we can still fight at the front, it’s just going to be whether the stronger parts of the track are better than the weaker parts relative to others.”
Piastri’s assessment is that the main weak point for McLaren is in the slow speed areas.
“We’re just slow in the slow speed corners, there’s not really anything more scientific than that I guess. I wouldn’t say we’ve really got anything short term that’s going to fix that massively, it’s still an area of focus and we’re working very hard on that.”
“But I think in Austria, in Silverstone, we’ve said since then the car doesn’t feel much different, it’s just a lot quicker.[…] I think the main focus for us at the moment from a points and results perspective, is to be the next team waiting in case they make a mistake, which they haven’t really yet. But we want to make sure we’re the next team waiting, ready to go.”
Photo credit: McLaren Racing
