Piastri Points To Remarkable Thing That Helped McLaren Catch Up With The Top Teams
F1
McLaren F1 driver Oscar Piastri reflected on his team's incredible progress over the 2023 season.
Oscar Piastri left Alpine to join McLaren in order to replace Daniel Ricciardo at the beginning of the season 2023. The move that he might have regretted at the beginning of 2023 turned out to be one of the best decisions in his career.
Multiple fans laughed at Piastri's decision to go to McLaren, especially after the team struggled during the first few races of the season, like Bahrain and the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
However, the British team bounced back in a spectacular way during the second part of the season. The Australian driver told the media:
"I think we've been able to show that in the second half of the year. The development and progress from the car side of things in particular, has been incredible."
McLaren started regularly competing with top teams like Mercedes (their engine supplier) and Ferrari, who seemed far ahead not long ago.
"Now we're slowly getting more and more comfortable with being at the front. Instead of referring to some of the other teams as the top teams, they are our competitors now."
The real sign of a change came during the 2023 British Grand Prix. Lando Norris finished in second place and Piastri just missed out on the third position finishing fourth.
"It's been one hell of a turnaround, definitely. The first upgrade we put on really gave us an extra step in performance and everything else since has done the same."
What Piastri pinpoints as a key to the team's success is that the data in simulations matches and reflects what actually happens on the track.
"The most encouraging thing has been that everything we've wanted to put on the car and everything we're going to change with the car has done what it's supposed to."
F1 teams can't always take for granted that what they calculate back at the factory will work in real life. A great example is the bouncing Mercedes from 2022. Piastri added:
"All the numbers that we expected were basically the same in real life, which you can't always take for granted. I think it's been remarkable."
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