Photo: McLaren F1 Team
This season McLaren is taking on a Formula 1 rookie, Oscar Piastri, following the sacking of the underperforming Daniel Ricciardo. This does, however, come with a slight hindrance, as it caused some drama last year.
Oscar Piastri was signed to Alpine as a reserve driver, a role he served during the 2022 Formula 1 season. But, as we all know, last year was characterized by complete chaos within the driver market.
This entire debacle started when Sebastian Vettel announced his retirement and Fernando Alonso jumped at the chance to take his Aston Martin seat, leaving Alpine out to dry. Except the French racing outfit had a backup plan, with the young Australian on the sideline and ready to fill out that empty spot.
But things went awry when McLaren announced it would be swapping around its experienced Australian driver for a younger one of the same nationality. Piastri was signed as a replacement for the departing Honey Badger, causing a legal dispute and a lot of media drama.
This entire clown fiesta ended up with McLaren and Piastri winning to the detriment of Alpine, which had to go looking for a viable driver. In the end, Pierre Gasly took Alonso’s spot while Alpha Tauri took on Nyck de Vries, a promising rookie who shocked everyone with his Italian GP debut.
This outcome consequently caused the media attention to turn to Piastri. And as we all know, that also means added pressure onto the driver’s shoulders, especially in Formula 1. That is further accentuated by being paired up with Lando Norris, who many fans think could become World Champion in the future.
On top of that, Piastri had a highly successful career, scoring a sweet hattrick of winning Formula Renault (2019), Formula 3 (2020), and Formula 2 (2021) in three consecutive years. Such a great accomplishment is bound to attract equally high expectations, which is not ideal for someone in his rookie season.
But Piastri does not seem to be unsettled by this, going on to state fans should expect “some rust” due to him having not raced for over a year. Despite the media attention that he will certainly get despite everything being above board, Piastri seems unphased, claiming it does not generate additional pressure.
The young Aussie did, however, explain that there is one other aspect that causes pressure, yet he does not feel it, “While the drama created a lot of attention, it has nothing to do with my driving. Results create expectations. I don't think that adds anything - I'm going into the season pretty comfortable.”
This attitude is confirmed by McLaren CEO Zak Brown, who praised Piastri’s composure, “Impressed with how he handled himself under pressure and amid unfair and inaccurate accusations. Thought the way he conducted himself showed how mature, focused, and calm he is. Since then, that's what I've continued to see.”
With so much confidence shown by both Piastri and Brown, we’re eager to see the rookie prove his talent and composure on track next season.
This entire debacle started when Sebastian Vettel announced his retirement and Fernando Alonso jumped at the chance to take his Aston Martin seat, leaving Alpine out to dry. Except the French racing outfit had a backup plan, with the young Australian on the sideline and ready to fill out that empty spot.
But things went awry when McLaren announced it would be swapping around its experienced Australian driver for a younger one of the same nationality. Piastri was signed as a replacement for the departing Honey Badger, causing a legal dispute and a lot of media drama.
This entire clown fiesta ended up with McLaren and Piastri winning to the detriment of Alpine, which had to go looking for a viable driver. In the end, Pierre Gasly took Alonso’s spot while Alpha Tauri took on Nyck de Vries, a promising rookie who shocked everyone with his Italian GP debut.
This outcome consequently caused the media attention to turn to Piastri. And as we all know, that also means added pressure onto the driver’s shoulders, especially in Formula 1. That is further accentuated by being paired up with Lando Norris, who many fans think could become World Champion in the future.
On top of that, Piastri had a highly successful career, scoring a sweet hattrick of winning Formula Renault (2019), Formula 3 (2020), and Formula 2 (2021) in three consecutive years. Such a great accomplishment is bound to attract equally high expectations, which is not ideal for someone in his rookie season.
But Piastri does not seem to be unsettled by this, going on to state fans should expect “some rust” due to him having not raced for over a year. Despite the media attention that he will certainly get despite everything being above board, Piastri seems unphased, claiming it does not generate additional pressure.
The young Aussie did, however, explain that there is one other aspect that causes pressure, yet he does not feel it, “While the drama created a lot of attention, it has nothing to do with my driving. Results create expectations. I don't think that adds anything - I'm going into the season pretty comfortable.”
This attitude is confirmed by McLaren CEO Zak Brown, who praised Piastri’s composure, “Impressed with how he handled himself under pressure and amid unfair and inaccurate accusations. Thought the way he conducted himself showed how mature, focused, and calm he is. Since then, that's what I've continued to see.”
With so much confidence shown by both Piastri and Brown, we’re eager to see the rookie prove his talent and composure on track next season.
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