(Motorsports news) Oscar Piastri had a big impact in the second half of the year by taking advantage of the team’s mid-season upgrades, following a challenging start to the season with an uncompetitive car. He finished third in Japan and second in Qatar, making two podiums in grand prix races. At the Qatar Grand Prix, he also won the sprint race.
In the F1 world championship, Piastri finished the year in a respectable tenth place, despite being outperformed by teammate Lando Norris by 205 points to 97. “It’s definitely been a bigger rollercoaster than I expected,” Piastri stated. “I anticipated some ups and downs, though perhaps not as much down at the beginning as up in the conclusion! But I’ve gained a lot of knowledge. I believe I’ve experienced almost every scenario imaginable, excluding a championship match.
As a squad, we’ve learned a lot this year, and it’s exciting to see us regaining our ability to compete at the front. We haven’t held this position for ten years. It’s really good to be having these discussions and going over these situations once more. “And to be battling at the front thus early in my career seems truly like a privilege for me. Some F1 drivers never get the opportunity that I have had in 22 races throughout their entire career.
I’m really incredibly appreciative of that. And I’m excited for many more years to come, when maybe we can accomplish that more frequently.” Piastri emphasized that he had made the most of his more competitive car and thanked the team for providing it to him. He responded, “It’s definitely been a great season,” when asked if he was pleased with his accomplishments.
“There are several highlights that I could not have accomplished without the team’s help in making the car better than we had earlier. I must thus give them a great deal of credit. “But in order to give myself a pat on the back, I suppose I also had to deliver in those situations. “I think my proudest moment was probably when we showed up at Silverstone with a competitive car and I was able to make the most of it,” the Piastri said. Although it wasn’t my best race, I managed to secure a podium spot in Japan.
“And in Qatar, we genuinely just had one chance to win anything all year long. And we were able to accept it. That is something I am really proud of. There will undoubtedly be challenging weekends, and the entire season still needs to be worked on. “One or two successful weekends do not win titles. I just need to make that happen more frequently since I know that from my junior career.” Having qualified third, Piastri ended his season in Abu Dhabi with a strong sixth place finish.
“It was nice to just have a clean race,” Piastri stated. “It seems like a long time has passed since I had a race without any strange incidents or touch! Therefore, perhaps not as strong as our team would have preferred. “I don’t think my first and second stints of the year were my greatest ones. However, I thought the last stint looked really well. It’s wonderful to wrap things up nicely. “We knew that our automobile still needed improvement in a few areas, but we had hoped for a little bit more speed. This song, I believe, somewhat reveals that.”
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