Piastri: Australia, my home race! It's going to be a great week

While fellow Australian Daniel Ricciardo wanes at VCARB, his shares on a steep decline, it is quite the opposite for Piastri who now carries the hopes a of a petrolhead nation.

Knowing this, McLaren team boss Andrea Stella told reporters ahead of this weekend's Grand Prix in Australia, that they would be extra vigilante when it comes to Piastri's off-track time at Albert Park.

“In general, this year, we are paying more attention to the driver schedule over a race weekend. We want to make sure the drivers have the time to focus on performance, focus on downtime, relax, and so on.

“We're effectively using the same approach, but if anything even more carefully for Melbourne. There are many requests, some we will accept, some we’ll have to protect [to] deliver the performance and we will not accept," explained Stella.

Piastri is relishing his return: “Australia, my home race! I’m so excited to be racing in front of a home crowd again. There’s no feeling like it. It’s going to be a great race week, and I’m sure that there will be an awesome atmosphere.

“We’ve had a positive start, with a P4 finish in Saudi. I was back in the MTC last week reviewing all the data to see where we can maximise our performance. I’m looking forward to seeing a lot of papaya in the crowd this weekend. Let’s go!”

McLaren teammate Lando Norris said in his team preview of the weekend ahead: “I’m looking forward to going back to the Australian Grand Prix. It’s a fun track and the Australian fans are always an amazing crowd, it’s a great atmosphere to race in.

"Last week I was back in the factory with my engineers to go over the first two races of the season ahead of racing in Melbourne. We’ll put all our learning into practice this weekend and aim to get some more points for the team," added Norris.

Team principal Stella shared his pre-Aussie thoughts: “We come away from the first double header of the season with good points and strong on-track performances from Lando and Oscar. It’s important we carry this momentum through whilst placing a keen focus on the areas we still need to develop so that we’re in a position to fight for podiums.

“Melbourne is always a fantastic place to come to, and of course, it is also Oscar’s home race. I’m sure a lot of fans will be showing their support for him and the team this weekend. We’ll hopefully see some exciting racing and return with some more points," added Stella.

Heading to Round 3 of the 2024 World Championship, McLaren lie P3 in the Constructors' Standings. In the Drivers' Standings Piastri is on 16 points with Norris on 12. The Qualifying score is tied at 1-1.