McLaren apprentice Oscar Piastri has taken away a long list of learnings from his maiden F1 season, but the Aussie’s most fundamental lesson was that “you can’t rest on your laurels” as a Grand Prix driver.
Throughout his rookie campaign, Piastri consistently impressed, and his performance truly soared with the introduction of an early summer upgrade on his MCL60.
Despite finishing a respectable ninth in the drivers' standings, 109 points behind his teammate Lando Norris, Piastri secured McLaren’s sole victory of the 2023 season with his triumph in the Qatar sprint.
Reflecting on his debut year, Piastri acknowledged the numerous lessons he had absorbed, but the one that stood out was the need to maintain unwavering concentration and extreme focus.
In the unforgiving world of Formula 1, even a momentary lapse of attention can have dire consequences, and Piastri has learned that complacency is the enemy of success.
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“Making a mistake in Formula 1 costs you a lot more than it might do otherwise,” he explained, quoted by Speedcafe.
“All the drivers are extremely competitive, all the teams are now extremely competitive, and if you take it a little bit easy you can suddenly lose a lot of time, a lot of positions.
“So that’s probably the biggest lesson. There have been specifics on driving and energy management as well. It’s been a busy year. But yeah, just how competitive everything’s been, that you can’t rest on your laurels.”
Speaking of energy management, Piastri conceded that F1’s end-of-season Vegas-Abu Dhabi double-header – a whirlwind of late-night racing, jet lag, and long transatlantic travel – was “a tough one for most of us”.
“Just having a lot less spare time to relax and stuff like that,” said the 22-year-old Aussie. “It’s been the busiest year of my life, but I’m loving it, so I wouldn’t change it.”
Piastri is optimistic that the schedule for next year’s Las Vegas Grand Prix will be more forgiving, with sessions unfolding at a more reasonable hour of the day.
“There are some things we would like to improve,” he said. “The schedule is probably the biggest thing. We’ve already been told that it’s being worked on, so they’re listening, which is nice.”
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