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Oscar’s lessons learnt

Oscar is as calm and collected as the day he first arrived, but his 2023 experiences have fast-tracked his progression

Reading Time: 12.9 minutes

Oscar takes a seat, pushes his hair back and smiles. It feels like relatively little has changed since his first McLaren interview a year ago: He’s spent the day on the simulator and in pre-season briefings after a morning coffee in the McLaren Technology Centre Juice Bar. He knows everyone’s name now, and his hair is longer, but he appears just as comfortable as he did when he first walked into our factory and hit it off with the team.

You wouldn’t know it from sitting here, but a lot has happened over the past 12 months. Oscar’s F1 racing debut lasted just 13 laps due to a technical issue, but he ended the year as the most successful rookie since Lewis Hamilton at McLaren in 2007, with two podiums and an F1 Sprint victory from pole. His final total of 97 points is the second-highest from a rookie in F1 history, and only 13 shy of Hamilton’s record from 2007.

But more important than the records and statistics are the lessons he learned during that time. Oscar had plenty of time to relax, shut off and look back over his first season during the winter break, which he spent at home with his family in his native Australia. As he returned to the MTC for the first time to continue working ahead to his sophomore season, we asked him what lessons he had learned from his first season in Formula 1.

Oscar Piastri

1. Joining the Formula 1 circus

Oscar arrived in Formula 1 as one of the hottest prospects in recent years, having become the first driver to win Formula Renault Eurocup, Formula 3, and Formula 2 in successive seasons on his road to F1. His preparation could hardly have been better, and as Oscar stepped into the car for the first time on a grand prix weekend in Bahrain, he had the air of a driver who was ready.

But competing in Formula 1 is an entirely different world to the junior formula circuit, and nothing can completely prepare you for the hustle and bustle of paddock life, where everything is multiplied by a million.

Requests for autographs, photographs and interviews have been a part of his life for several years, but the demand is much greater than when he was in the support paddock. While on track, there’s so much more to think about during the races, and the competition is so much fiercer.

And yet, he fared incredibly well, often appearing as if he’d been a part of the Formula 1 circus for years.

“I certainly learned a lot in my first season right across the board, both on and off track,” Oscar says. “On track, it was an exciting new challenge for me to race in a new championship with a new team against a lot of new people.

“On track, the biggest challenge and the biggest lesson was learning what new drivers are like to race against, and what these new circuits are like. Off track, it is the added media attention and the fan engagement, which is very different from the junior categories – it’s been exciting. It was challenging at times, but having that support is very exciting.

“The media is much greater than what I have experienced before. As is the entire schedule. 2023 was, by far, the busiest year of my life. Learning to deal with being on the road for so long has been an interesting challenge. Learning lots of new countries and new circuits has been fun. I gained lots of new skills.”

Getting to grips with the F1 circus

2. Navigating new tracks

From a driving point of view, arguably the most impressive aspect of Oscar’s rookie season was the speed at which he adapted to circuits he’d never previously raced on. There was a six-round spell between Italy and Las Vegas where he competed exclusively on circuits where he had zero experience against drivers who had been racing on them for years.  

This spell coincided with him getting our second major upgrade of the season, and it ended up being his most prolific period. After finishing seventh in Singapore, he took podiums in Japan and Qatar and claimed his first F1 victory in the Sprint at the Losail International Circuit, winning from pole. Had he not taken damage in the US and São Paulo grands prix, it is likely that Oscar would almost certainly have scored points in all six of those races.   

“I think that there is always an element of playing catch up when you are at a new circuit, which isn’t new for everyone – especially if it is a Sprint weekend,” Oscar says. “On a Sprint weekend, if the circuit is new for you, then you basically have one hour to learn the circuit, so you have to prepare incredibly well beforehand to try and learn as quickly as possible once you’re on the track.  

“That has taught me a lot, though. It has pushed me to try and get up to speed as quickly as possible, and it tests your ability to get things done together very quickly, which has been a challenge, but I am a better driver for it.”  

3. Learning names

Oscar has impressed with the ease at which he’s fitted in at McLaren. After being introduced to the team at the 2022 season's final debrief, Oscar worked his way around the factory and introduced himself to everybody. He spent time within every department and made the effort to learn their names and responsibilities. The Australian also attended the 2022 end-of-season celebration at the MTC, where he mingled with as many people as possible.

Since then, he has regular been at the factory, embedding himself within the team and quickly building up close relationships thanks to his down-to-earth demeanour, calm nature and dry sense of humour. From a racing perspective, the team have found him easy to work with: his feedback is clear and concise and closely matches that of his teammate, Lando.

“I joined a new team with hundreds of people, which had a different way of working. Building relationships with new people is always nice, and building that trust and feedback with my engineers has been important. It has been a good feeling to work on that.

“I have learned different ways of working and a different perspective. It is interesting that there are different ways of doing the same job. It is good to have a fresh outlook on things with a new perspective that other people might not have. The relationship between the team and myself has improved on both sides.”

McLaren Team

4. Settling into a new car

Ahead of his arrival in Formula 1, those who had previously worked with Oscar lauded his adaptability. During his climb up the junior ladder, Oscar only ever remained in the same championship for consecutive seasons once, and even then, he switched teams. So, his ability to transition from one car to another and quickly pick up things was never in doubt.

But, stepping up to Formula 1 and driving a new car would always be a much more challenging proposition than moving from Formula Renault to Formula 3 or from Formula 3 to Formula 2.

Oscar joined with plenty of prior experience in F1 machinery, having undertaken an intense testing programme as part of his role as Alpine’s Reserve driver, but this was in a different team’s car and primarily in old machinery.

“I would say that being adaptable is a very big strength you need as a racing driver,” he says. “For me, learning a new car has been a normal process - I've never driven the same car for more than a year.

“Of course, it was a challenge to get used to another new car, but at the same time, it's a similar process to what I have been used to as it's something I've done my whole career. I have learned lots from it, though – you pick up new ways of driving and new driving styles, and there are new things for you to learn.

“Every car comes with a different challenge, and learning to drive last year’s car was challenging, but that will serve me well going forward. It is good to learn how to adapt your driving style to different cars and to have driven in different ways.”

Getting to grips with an F1 car

5. Getting to know a new teammate

In Lando, Oscar got one of Formula 1’s quickest drivers as his first teammate. At only 23 years old, Lando had marked himself out as one of the grid’s most consistent performers over four seasons and had been able to learn from experienced teammates in Carlos Sainz and Daniel Ricciardo.

Oscar was always going to benefit from exposure to the now-24-year-old’s experience and ways of working, while being given a challenging yardstick against which to measure himself. Oscar has stepped up to that admirably, becoming firm friends with Lando off-track and pushing him on it. Their collaboration in debriefs and on the simulator has helped to speed up development and maximise our potential.

“It is always a good learning experience to see how different people drive,” Oscar says. “It has been nice getting to know Lando this year, on and off track. I have always had different teammates throughout my career, and it is always interesting to see how they drive and attack the same car from different angles.

“Seeing how Lando drives the car, interacts with the team, and pushes them to be better has all been a good experience for me, and I feel like I have learned from it. There are always things you can learn from your teammates. No driver will ever drive completely the same way as another. How he interacts with the team has been really insightful for me to learn from.”

Training for the new season has already begun, and Oscar will be behind the wheel of our 2024 challenger for pre-season testing in Bahrain on 21-23 February, before the season commences on 29 February - 2 March at the Bahrain International Circuit.

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