Zak Brown, McLaren CEO, is impressed with the performance his rookie driver Oscar Piastri has put in so far in the 2023 Formula 1 season, insisting it is up to the team to give him a better car now.
Brown broke the bank to poach Oscar Piastri from Alpine where he used to be a reserved driver, the French team initially planning to give him the seat vacated by Fernando Alonso in 2022, the Spaniard jumping ship to Aston Martin.
But following a legal battle between Enstone and Woking, the latter prevailed and the Australian rookie replaced Daniel Ricciardo who was given his marching orders after two underwhelming seasons with McLaren.
Lando Norris revealed Piastri is pushing him harder than Ricciardo, and while the first five races for the new McLaren driver are in no way an indication of his future Championship success, he seems to be doing well given the rubbish MCL60 he has to drive.
Piastri has impressed McLaren
But Zak Brown insists he has struck gold with Piastri; he said in Miami: “We’re very impressed with him. He’s very focused.
“He’s not really made certainly not any big mistakes. Typical exploring the limits, so the odd lock of a wheel here and there, but yeah. He’s never been to Miami. He’s not been to all these races, so early indications are we’ve got a future World Champion on our hands.
“We just have to work to give him a faster car now,” the American, who has recently implemented a technical restructuring within McLaren, maintained.
As for his young driver lineup, Brown insists it the best on the grid; he commented: “The combination of Lando and Oscar, I couldn’t think of a better combination of drivers.
“Oscar has done a fantastic job and he’s trading lap times with Lando now and that’s what you want,” the McLaren boss concluded.
Over the first five race of 2023, Piastri has scored points in his third race in top flight, his home race in Melbourne where he finished eighth. He qualified twice in the top ten, eighth in Saudi Arabia and tenth in Azerbaijan.