Rookie Oscar Piastri Gets Up to Speed With F1’s Demands as McLaren Grooms the Aussie to Match Up Lando Norris

Today, McLaren is one of the most renowned and experienced Formula 1 teams out there. The squad has a history of producing champions, like Mika Hakkinen, Lewis Hamilton, Alain Prost, Niki Lauda, and Ayrton Senna. But sadly, the team hasn’t won any championships since 2008. So in the latest attempt to change that over the next few seasons, the papaya family has signed the young gun Oscar Piastri alongside Lando Norris. Now that the Aussie has spent some time with the McLaren squad and has understood the needs of the sport, we heard him drawing a contrast between Formula One and the lower levels of motorsports.

Piastri had had a fantastic start to a new life after being signed by the Woking-based squad. The driver, who will make his Formula One debut in about a week, was spotted taking some laps with teammate Lando Norris over the winter. Since Piastri has become used to life at McLaren, he recently talked about the environment of the organization.

Talking to McLaren.com, he said, “I have done a few of these tests now and am getting to know everyone well. It’s useful to be working with my trackside engineers, mechanics and the rest of the race team. It’s good to bond with them, work on our comms terminology, and get on the same page. We are getting to know each other better, and it has been a good exercise.” 

Piastri also mentioned the difference in G Force, where an F2 driver does experience as high g-forces as F1. The 21-year-old said, ” The G-Force on your neck is probably the biggest difference from the junior categories, so I have been training that a lot.”

READ MORE: Fight for Supremacy Begins as Oscar Piastri Sends a 4 Word Roaring Message to Lando Norris

After winning F3 and F2 in his debut seasons, Piastri attributes his success to his adaptability, and now that he will compete in F1, he has discussed how he plans to handle the challenge of competing against highly experienced athletes.

Oscar Piastri discusses his perspective on battling against legends

Oscar Piastri’s entry into the Mclaren wasn’t simple. In light of the fact that he was the most sought-after driver on the F1 grid, two powerful teams were spotted competing for him. The tumultuous hiring process began when McLaren and Alpine clashed over signing Piastri before the young Australian was hired by Mclaren as Daniel Ricciardo’s replacement. And now that the chaos has ended, the young Australian driver is prepared to compete against some of the sport’s greatest athletes.

When he was questioned by Planet F1 if there will be a change while racing against the legends he used to watch on TV viewers, he gave a composed response, “I think working alongside Fernando for part of last year was an eye-opening experience, and obviously he was someone that I watched growing up.”

“I think Lewis is also another one because I watched his success throughout my junior career. So yeah, it’s going to be pretty special to go up against guys like that. But you know, I think as a racing driver, it’s going to be once the helmet goes on, everyone else is just another driver, but definitely it’s going to be pretty cool to race against some of these childhood heroes.”

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In light of this, do you think the new Mclaren duo will change the team’s fortunes?