For 2023, Oscar Piastri gave up a potential seat in Alpine to join McLaren. After all, the latter is one of the most successful teams in F1 with 8 Constructors’ Championships. But to his surprise, the Woking outfit was reduced to a midfield team at the beginning of the season. But his decision is finally working in his favor after McLaren’s exceptional upgrade package. And he’s doing so well that a former F1 manager has compared him with a 3-time F1 World Champion.
In the very first lap of the Hungarian GP, Piastri, in P4, made a sublime pass on his teammate, Lando Norris, in P3, and Lewis Hamilton, in P2 to get P2. That overtake was a treat for the eyes of viewers. And on his YouTube Channel, Peter Windsor compared the Australian Rookie to former 3x World Champion Sir Jackie Stewart aka “The Flying Scot.”
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Windsor said, “That was a superb opening phase of the race by Oscar Piastri. It was the sort of thing; if this was 1965 and Jackie Stewart had done that with Graham Hill in the other car at BRM, you’d be thinking he is going to be the next Jim Clark, Scottish World Champion. What we saw today with Oscar was definitely in that sort of realm. It was really, really good.”
It was a good outing for Piastri in Budapest. McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella, too complimented his overtaking and persistence.
Andrea Stella’s Comments Resonate with Peter Windsor’s as Oscar Piastri Gets Strong Result Despite Damage to His McLaren
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The Australian racer started the race in P4. And after his magical overtake he sustained P2 for a while before his McLaren teammate executed a successful undercut to overtake him. As per Stella, Piastri’s driving was “very strong” but because his MCL60 had suffered some floor damage, he finished in P5.
In a post-race interview, Stella said, “Following on from Silverstone, another strong result for our team with Lando on the podium again and Oscar finishing P5. On Oscar’s side, the first stint was very strong. In the second stint, we need to look at the impact that some car damage had, in terms of performance and interaction with the tires, because we seem to have lost the ability to sustain tire life over the stint.”
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Watch This Story: HOW OSCAR PIASTRI HAS MADE A SCINTILLATING RISE TO THE PINNACLE OF MOTORSPORT
The Belgian GP that’s up next is one of the fastest circuits on the calendar. And such tracks suit the MCL60. Can Piastri finally manage to get himself his first F1 podium?