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Echoing the debut seasons of world champions Sir Jackie Stewart, Jacques Villeneuve and Sir Lewis Hamilton, Oscar Piastri can hold his head high in their company after making his own stunning entry into F1 in 2023.

The first years of those champions mentioned above immediately spring to mind when talk turns to the impressions young drivers make on their graduation to the big league. And close perusal of Oscar Piastri’s first year indicates that the 22-year-old from Melbourne is already in elite company.

He could not have had a tougher team-mate at McLaren than the rapidly emergent Lando, but though both were denied potential victories in a season so thoroughly dominated by Max Verstappen and Red Bull, he showed consistently good pace while demonstrating a remarkable capacity for fast learning and staying out of trouble.

His debut in Bahrain was relatively low-key as he did what he could with a yet-to-be-optimised MCL60 before being blighted by retirement due to an electrical problem, then came a 15th-place finish in Saudi Arabia when the car was still far from its best.

But he had been very close to Lando in practice in Jeddah before causing a stir by qualifying a surprising eighth. However, a collision with Pierre Gasly forced him to pit for a new front wing, and after that, he was obliged to run the remaining 49 laps on the hard Pirelli tyres. Though, he managed them well and, at one stage, overtook Lando, before being repassed.

Everyone knows how good Lando is, but already the signs were that Oscar would be pushing him hard before long. And his post-race comment after finishing a grand prix for the first time said everything about his measured and clinical approach. “So, it’s all in the bank, and that’s what I’m out there for, to learn, at the moment.”

He made a great impression on the team right from the start, and as the season progressed and the MCL60 got better, he looked ever more impressive.

He scored his first points with eighth place on his home turf in Australia, finished 11th in Azerbaijan, 19th in Miami when the car was at its nadir, 10th in Monaco and 13th in Spain. Canada brought another 11th, and Austria only 16th, as Lando got the big new upgrade and finished fourth.

Oscar was fast when the car allowed him to be, and patient and philosophical when it didn’t. And he endeared himself to the team by accepting that Lando, as senior driver, would be the one to get any new parts when there weren’t yet enough for both of them, but persistent enough to make sure they remembered him next time out.

From Silverstone, he was in a much better position to impress once the MCL60 really started working. As Lando took second place there, after a big fight with Hamilton, Oscar was fourth, narrowly missing out on his first podium to Hamilton, due in part to an ill-timed Safety Car.

Hungary brought fifth after an early stint running second to Max, and Belgium a great second in the Sprint Race after starting alongside Verstappen on the front row, but early retirement in the grand prix after a 50-50 clash with Carlos Sainz at La Source just after the start. Problems left him ninth in Holland and 12th in Italy. It’s fair to say that luck didn’t always swing his way. Singapore then brought seventh when Lando was again the only one to get the latest upgrade.

Once his car had been updated, Oscar produced a remarkable performance when racing in Japan for the first time, scoring his first podium, alongside Lando. Refreshingly, he was the first to admit that he still had things to learn about tyre management in races, after being caught and passed by Lando. His candour and honesty are two more features highly appreciated by our team.

His second podium was even more impressive, as he finished a very strong second in Qatar, where it was clear he had already taken some tyre management issues on board.

He was unlucky to retire in the US Grand Prix due to damage and to finish 14th for similar reasons in São Paulo, but in between those races, he had scored eighth in Mexico City. He finished off the season with 10th in Vegas and sixth behind Lando in the season finale in Abu Dhabi, where he again showcased his class in some great wheel-to-wheel battling with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.

He has made a tremendous impression, not just on the team, but on fans worldwide. He got the best out of the MCL60 without making mistakes before the upgrades. And once the improvements had been installed, he was able to keep the pressure on the much more experienced Lando.

One of his most impressive characteristics is the quiet independence of his thought process. He is comfortable with receiving and taking advice on board, without actively seeking it out or trying to fast-track the learning process. He was happy enough in his ability to learn as he went along, which is the sort of inherent trait of self-confidence that is a cornerstone of many successful F1 careers.

“I have worked with some very successful drivers in the past, and one characteristic is they are always a little unhappy,” Team Principal Andrea Stella says. “You are only happy when you see that you converge with what your ambitions are, and this sense of a little unhappiness, obviously, it needs to be intended in racing terms, and we are not talking about in the personal life. But in racing terms, I think it's very strong in a driver pursuing excellence. I see it as a characteristic of Oscar’s attitude.

“He doesn’t have nervous reactions. He doesn’t add tension to his comments. His comments are a genuine report of what happens with a car. You can trust what he’s saying, he’s not adding anything speculatively because he needs to promote himself.”

Oscar always downplayed his expectations of this first season, and made sensible comments about his plans: learn as much as you can every time you step into the car, get up to speed as quickly as possible and find the right way to fast-track those processes. Whatever results came from all that would be a bonus. Over the year, that process served him, and the team, very well.

So much so that team boss Zak Brown reiterated in Abu Dhabi: “I think in Lando and Oscar, McLaren has the strongest line-up of any team going into 2024.” It’s hard to disagree with that.

It’s easy to forget, given his consummate performances, that Oscar didn’t race at all in 2022 after winning the Formula 2 Championship in 2021. Yet, he shook off the rust very quickly, and hit his stride without having to learn through myriad rookie mistakes. Like Stewart, Villeneuve and Hamilton before him, he took to F1 with all the comfortable, unforced panache of a man who has success in his future.