The McLaren team is upbeat about their prospects for 2023 after seeing new driver Oscar Piastri complete his first official post-season test with the team in Abu Dhabi followed by a two-day private test in Barcelona this week.
Former Alpine F1 test driver Piastri was signed up to replace Daniel Ricciardo after McLaren decided to release him from his contract a year early.
It means that the 21-year-old from Melbourne, Australia will partner Lando Norris next season. But before that there's a lot of work getting the former Formula 2 and 3 champion up to speed for his first Grand Prix in Bahrain.
So far, so good: Piastri's new race engineer Tom Stallard said he had been impressed by the team's new recruit in the recent test.
"He is very calm, very mature and very unfazed," he said. "Oscar is also very adaptable, and it is very impressive how he has been able to modulate his inputs and adjust his braking and turning to get the best out of the car.
© McLaren
"He has made a lot of progress, and I think he now understands very clearly what the car needs. He has been able to deliver that very effectively, and we are very excited by that."
Piastri ran 115 laps in the MCL36 in Abu Dhabi, and then went on to complete 150 laps at the wheel of the MCL35M on Monday and Tuesday in Barcelona.
However he's not raced since the end of 2021 when he clinched the F2 title, and is looking forward to getting back to the grid next year..
"It was good to get back into the swing of things with some race-specific stuff," he said. "We covered a lot of things, and I feel like I am making some good progress.
"We revisited some old topics that I haven't had the chance to explore for a while, and I learned quite a lot about different driving techniques.
© McLaren
"The conditions were pretty cold, and we even got a bit of wet running in as well," he added. "I was adapting to all of that and trying to soak up as much as I could and get back into the swing of things, because there is a bit of rust.
"Now that I have got a seat and will definitely be going back racing, we can focus on a few of the specifics of a race that I wouldn't normally do in testing.
"Being able to work with the engineers and the race team that I will be working with next year is a massive help. It is really useful to start that relationship.
"My neck is pretty sore, but it always takes a while to get used to an F1 car," he noted. "I am getting there, I am holding on. I should be good to go with some more training over Christmas."
Piastri is heading home to Australia to spend Christmas with his family, but will then have to hit the ground running when he returns to Woking in January "because the season is coming around quickly."
"We’ve got plenty of work planned after he has returned from Australia," Stallard agreed.
"By the time we get in the new car in Bahrain, we want to have finished all of the Oscar prep so we can focus on understanding the new car and what the new car needs."
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