“Beyond Our Expectation”: McLaren Boss Rates Oscar Piastri’s Rookie Season That Got the Young Aussie Some Attention

After winning the 2021 F2 season, Oscar Piastri had to sit out for the 2022 season. However, come 2023, the Australian has managed to win over everyone with his sensational driving. As per a report by PitDebrief, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella believes that Piastri has managed to exceed all expectations in his rookie season.

Following the season finale in Abu Dhabi, Stella said, “Our perception, our analysis, is that Oscar’s season has just been exceptional. And when I say exceptional, like beyond our expectation.”

Stella also heaped praise on Piastri’s performance at the Abu Dhabi GP itself. The McLaren team principal believes that the race at the Yas Marina Circuit proves how quickly the Australian driver can learn and adapt to things.

Stepping into the 2023 season off the back of the huge controversy regarding his contract, a lot was expected from Piastri. As of now, it would be an understatement to say that the Australian did deliver. Towards the latter stages of the season, Piastri was constantly even fighting for podium places.

He managed to claim two podium finishes as well as a sprint race victory in just his rookie season. That’s not it as he also clinched a pole position for the Qatar GP Sprint. Piastri managed to claim 97 points throughout the season and remained quite consistent with his performance, which was another positive for the team.

Following the last race of the season, teammate Lando Norris also claimed that Piastri has had an exceptional season. The Briton revealed that Piastri even forced him to push for more performance throughout the season, which is definitely a huge positive for McLaren.

Oscar Piastri is part of the “strongest driver pair” on the grid

The route to recruit Oscar Piastri wasn’t simple for McLaren. The 2020 F2 champion had an existing contract with Alpine but he decided to break it midway and look for other opportunities. Things got extremely complicated and it even involved a court case.

McLaren went all out for the young Aussie despite the fact that he had previously never stepped into an F1 car. It was definitely a risky move, but as of now, it seems it did pay off for the British team.

McLaren recently revealed that they have decided to continue with Piastri at least till the end of 2026. Following the renewal, Norris claimed that McLaren has the strongest driver pairing on the grid and he may not be completely wrong.