McLaren CEO Zak Brown has hailed Oscar Piastri as “uber-impressive” following his impressive rookie campaign so far but in turn has placed expectations on the shoulders of the young Australian.
Brown has previously declared Piastri to be a future F1 champion, doing so after just three grands prix of the 22-year-old’s maiden campaign at a time when the car was under-developed and lacking in performance.
Since then, Brown feels the displays from Piastri, the ability he possesses, and his temperament both on and off track, have further proven his earlier claim.
Speaking in a column on the team’s website, and declaring McLaren to be “on the money with that choice” with regard to the hiring of Piastri, he said: “With Oscar, there are a couple of things that have been uber-impressive – his patience and confidence.
“He’s very quiet, and on a Friday he’s learning. Some of the circuits are new, but the gap is getting smaller and smaller.
“He was half a second off Lando in Monaco on Friday and he said to me, ‘You can’t really explore the limits here because if you do you’re in the wall.’ But he’s just chilled, and an unbelievable student.
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“He can look at Lando’s data, and then come Saturday he’s a tenth off him in qualifying. So, he’s got a great ability to learn on Friday, he’s not too eager to look at the lap times and fall into an ‘I-got-to-win-Friday’ mentality.
“Okay, Lando has out-qualified him (10-3), but from Silverstone, he’s (been) on the same tenth. He’s able to do that by not making mistakes on Friday, not putting the car in the gravel.
“He studies, and then he is fast through the fast stuff, so what we’re seeing in him is a very mature, very patient, very studious, big-balls driver.”
Reiterating the claim that he has “every reason to believe he’s a future world champion with what we’re seeing right now”, he continued: “And he’s only getting better, right?
“I mean, look at him in Silverstone, at Spa. He’s kind of doing what Lando did in his rookie year.
“He might not quite get the whole lap together, or he’ll nail his three sectors but be a little bit untidy, just typical rookie stuff.
“But he’s not sticking it in the fence. So, I see a lot in Oscar of what I saw in Lando in his year one.”
It has been previously mentioned by team principal Andrea Stella how similar Norris and Piastri are, in particular, with regard to their feedback and what they want from a car.
That has been very beneficial for McLaren when it comes to developments and upgrades.
Brown recognises they may not be the best of friends away from the track, as was previously the case with Norris and former team-mate Carlos Sainz, but it is a partnership that is working.
To that end, Brown is fully anticipating Piastri to continue to close the gap on Norris for the remainder of the season.
“I think Lando now feels like he probably has another Lando as a team-mate and it’s going to push them both but in a very healthy way,” added Brown.
“And they get along great. It’s a different relationship than Carlos and Lando: they went out and golfed all the time.
“I would say the Lando-Oscar relationship is a little bit more all business. They’ve formed a great relationship though, and when they’ve raced each other hard already a couple of times this year they’ve both played ball.
“I think we’ve got the best driver line-up for the foreseeable future because of the blend of experience, plus both have youth and both definitely seem like they’re future champions.
“And while it’s going to be tight between us, Ferrari, Mercedes, and Aston Martin, I think we can put up a good fight over the balance of the year and I expect Oscar to be with Lando from here on.”
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