F1 News: Oscar Piastri On "Rollercoaster" Rookie Season - "Not A Position McLaren's In For 10 Years"
Oscar Piastri revealed that his debut Formula 1 season with McLaren was a bigger "rollercoaster" than he had expected. Highlighting the challenges he went through with the Papaya team, the Australian driver throws light on the "ups" and "downs" of 2023.
Despite a challenging start with an uncompetitive car, Piastri capitalized on the team's mid-season upgrades, leaving a significant impact in the latter part of the year. He secured podium finishes in two Grands Prix, claiming second place in Qatar and third in Japan, and achieved a memorable victory in the sprint event at the former.
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Piastri concluded the year with a commendable ninth position in the F1 Drivers' Standings, although he was overtaken by his teammate Lando Norris by 205 points to 97. Speaking to the media, he said:
"It's definitely been a bigger rollercoaster than I expected.
"I knew there would be ups and downs, maybe not as down at the start or as up at the end!
"But I've really learned a lot. I feel like I've had basically every situation you could have, apart from a championship fight.
"So it's been a good year in terms of learning - I think, as a team, we're learning how to compete at the front again, which is exciting.
"It's not a position we've been in for 10 years, so it's nice to be having these conversations again, going through these scenarios.
"And, for me, it's really a privilege to be fighting at the front so early in my career. There are people that go their whole F1 career that don't have the opportunity that I've had in 22 races.
"So I'm very, very grateful for that. And I'm looking forward to plenty more years to come where hopefully we can do that more often."
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Expressing gratitude to this team for upgrading the MCL60 to a point where it got closest to Red Bull's title contender, Piastri added:
"It's definitely been a great season.
"A lot of highlights that I wouldn't have been able to do without the team improving the car the way we did - so I have to give a lot of credit to them.
"But, also, I guess to pat myself on the back, I had to deliver in those moments too.
"I think for me, that's probably the proudest moment, Silverstone where we rocked up with a car that was competitive, I was able to get the most out of it. Japan, not my finest race, but did enough to score my first podium.
"And Qatar we had one opportunity really in the whole year to actually win something. And we managed to take it. For me, I can be very proud of that. Definitely some trickier weekends, and things still to work on as a whole season.
"You don't win championships by one or two good weekends. I know that from my junior career, so just need to make that happen more often."
