Piastri Reacts To Almost Breaking Hamilton's Rookie Season 17-Year-Old Record
F1Friday, 01 December 2023 at 18:00
McLaren 2023 driver Oscar Piastri almost managed to break the rookie season record set by Lewis Hamilton 17 years ago in the same team.
In 2007, Lewis Hamilton broke a record for most points scored in a rookie season when he had one of the best, if not the best, rookie seasons Formula One has ever seen.
The seven-time World Champion was fortunate enough to sit in a competitive car and finished the season with four wins and 109 points, just one point behind Championship winner Kimi Raikkonen.
Oscar Piastri came into the McLaren in 2023 to race alongside one of the most talented F1 drivers on the grid, Lando Norris, which is not an easy task to handle.
However, the Australian showed everybody what he's made of by achieving two Grand Prix podiums, winning a sprint race, and scoring 97 points. The 22-year-old stayed humble when he told Sky Sports:
"It’s nice to have those comparisons definitely. I’ve been the first person since Lewis to have a car as competitive as this [in a rookie season], so that definitely helps in some ways, but I feel like it has been a good year."
Piastri has been described as the best rookie in Formula One since Max Verstappen. Remarkably, he was able to score a win sooner than his more experienced teammate.
"I think the thing I’ve been proud of is when I’ve had those opportunities to score podiums and fight at the front, try and fight for pole positions."
While Piastri still lacked quite a big portion of points on his teammate at the end of the season, he has been running an older spec car on multiple races when McLaren had only one car with upgrades, and he also got unlucky during multiple races towards the end of the season. The Australian concluded:
"More times than not I feel like I’ve been able to get the most out of the car and out of myself, which I don’t think is a small feat."
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