(Motorsports news) After a drawn-out transfer controversy involving Alpine, Piastri, the 2021 Formula 2 champion, joined McLaren this season. The conflict between the two teams was a sign of the high expectations for the Australian rookie. Before a thorough summer upgrade package provided McLaren’s MCL60 a significant competitiveness boost, Piastri’s rookie season was beginning to be overshadowed by a poorly performing car.
It afforded Piastri the chance to finish in the top three in the Belgian Grand Prix sprint race prior to the summer break, as well as giving the seasoned Lando Norris the opportunity to win two second places in Britain and Hungary. His performance at Spa was the most recent in a string of impressive results that included a fourth-place finish in Silverstone, where he missed out on a podium spot because of undercutting during the pit stops, and a fifth-place finish in Budapest.
The squad’s head coach Stella claims that Piastri’s current string of outstanding performances is entirely consistent with what the team had already observed throughout his rookie campaign since the 22-year-old simply lacks the necessary tools to translate his form into noticeable outcomes. Stella stated, “I believe where he is right now is a component of the gradient that we observed right from the start at testing and the first races.
I don’t know if Piastri’s progression has actually sped up. I believe he simply benefited from the car being more competitive since he had more chances to demonstrate his abilities. “This, in my opinion, is consistent with what we initially observed. Getting into a McLaren was difficult. We have been discussing this car’s attributes and how many problems it has caused for drivers while also feeling uneasy.
“So, this was already clear to us at the beginning of the season, but less clear outside simply because the car wasn’t very competitive, so I would say he’s consolidating the gradient that we saw at the beginning,” said one observer. Piastri qualified second for the sprint at Spa and then drove cautiously in the slick conditions to maintain his position behind the powerful Red Bull of the unchallenged championship leader Max Verstappen.
Stella believes that Piastri conveyed the sense of a seasoned veteran with his mature performance under trying circumstances. Stella continued, “The interesting thing about Oscar is that he makes it all seem so easy. “He’s making it seem easy that in these conditions you pit, you take the lead in the race, you transition from wet to dry [conditions], and you never kind of make a mistake or so,” said one observer.
“In my opinion, this is the most astounding thing I have seen. And considering how composed and polite he is, he accomplishes all of this with a fairly unusual technique. And thus far, it has been really impressive.
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