McLaren’s One Classy Act Towards Lewis Hamilton & Lando Norris Inspired Oscar Piastri to Dump Alpine

Oscar Piastri is coming in as a hotshot in a group full of headliner rookies, with a lot riding on his back. McLaren stole him away from Alpine, but the signing was no less than a mission for Zak Brown and company. However, they surely have a lot to thank the team’s name and legacy for easing things up for them, as Oscar Piastri reveals great details about what made him get on board with the Wyoming-based outfit.

Lewis Hamilton was McLaren’s last world champion and grew into a household name, thanks to them. And, while Lando Norris hasn’t had much success with the team due to the challenges posed by the car itself, he has become a significant name who will undoubtedly have a place in the team’s history if he manages to pull some strings during his time with them. And thus, according to Piastri, it is how the two drivers developed and their journey that made him come to McLaren after ditching Alpine, despite his own personal development with them.

As quoted by Motorsport NextGen Auto, Oscar Piastri revealed, “Lewis and Lando are two very good examples that prove that McLaren is used to advancing rookies and making them world-class Formula 1 pilots, which gave me confidence. That, and the feeling of being desired by the team was a huge, huge boost on my side. Passion, energy and the desire to have me on the team was all a very pleasant feeling.”

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Piastri also talked about how he now embraces the team’s history, which has had legendary drivers such as Lewis Hamilton, Ayrton Senna, and Alain Prost in its seat. All this contributed to his ultimate decision.

Oscar Piastri reviews McLaren’s recent performances

McLaren’s troubles were thought to be over after a 1-2 finish at Monza with Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris, but the woes of 2022 meant there was still a lot of work to be done.

So, many people questioned Piastri’s decision to join McLaren ahead of Alpine, despite the latter outscoring the former in the championship. An unworried Piastri answers, “The trajectory of the team for about five years has generally been ascending. Last year was a bit more of a plateau, but in general, it is an upward trend, and it’s revealing to see the work going behind the scenes to bring us even higher up the grid.”

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McLaren has promoted its engineer, Andrea Stella, to the role of team principal. Due to this, there’s high uncertainty around the car’s performance, with not many positive indications coming out of the factory.