Between 2019 and 2021, Oscar Piastri won three championship titles — Formula Renault, F3 and F2. As such, the then-Alpine junior was hoping to get some quality racing action in 2022, but instead of promoting him to F1, the Enstone-based team kept him on as a reserve driver.
Two years have passed, and Piastri is now at McLaren. But looking back at the 2022 season, Piastri admitted that he wanted to compete. “Racing would have been better,” he said to AMuS. “There is no environment in which you can prepare better.”
In 2022, most of Piastri‘s development happened away from the racing car, leaving him unprepared for F1—both mentally and physically. He noted that he would have been better off had he been racing the year after winning the F2 title.
Eventually, he parted ways with Alpine and joined McLaren for the 2023 season, where he delivered a sensational rookie campaign. He won a Sprint race and claimed two podium finishes, making him the most impressive rookie since Lewis Hamilton’s debut in 2007.
Piastri is hot on the heels of Norris
Before having Piastri as his teammate at McLaren, Lando Norris was partnered up with Daniel Ricciardo — an eight-time F1 race winner who never quite hit the ground running in Woking. As such, life was comfortable for Norris. At least when it came to the intra-team battle.
Piastri on the other hand, has started pushing Norris to the limit. Norris got the upper hand on the Melbourne-born driver for the majority of the 2023 season, but in 2024, the latter has risen up to the occasion.
Lando Norris on Oscar Piastri as a teammate:
“He’s doing a strong job. He did since day one last year already, so I don’t expect anything different.
He’s going to push me, I’m going to push him, and I look forward to our battles together.” pic.twitter.com/kplZEi2fNk
— McLaren News | (@McLarenF1_News) March 21, 2024
The 23-year-old seems to be improving at a rapid pace, getting better with each passing race. The gap between Norris and Piastri is currently at 42 points, which is lesser than the gap Norris has to his ‘championship rival’ Max Verstappen — 52.
As such, Piastri can mathematically finish ahead of Norris in the standings with six races to go. However, it is unlikely he will push too hard, as both Piastri and McLaren confirmed last month that they would help Norris win the Championship.
