Piastri focused on driving more than set-up

Oscar Piastri is placing more emphasis on the mechanics of driving his McLaren rather than the nuance of set-up in the initial stages of his F1 career.

Piastri has just two grands prix under his belt and less than two days of running during pre-season testing.

With limited opportunities to gain experience, the Aussie’s current focus is getting the most out of himself.

It’s an approach McLaren is working with him on as it guides the 21-year-old’s formative steps in F1.

McLaren rookie record

“Everything we’ve been doing has been very productive,” Piastri told Speedcafe.

“Obviously the team has a good history with bringing rookies – like Lando most recently.

“They understand the situation and how to bring in a rookie.”

That has seen Piastri build up over a race weekend, taking steps throughout practice and into qualifying.

While a scruffy lap in Bahrain left him starting down the order, team boss Andrea Stella was pleased with his opening stint.

In Saudi Arabia, he was in a position to capitalise when the opportunity presented itself to progress to Qualifying 3.

He then raced wheel to wheel with Norris and Logan Sargeant in the latter stages.

That prompted team boss Andrea Stella to comment “we know we can trust them.”

Norris similarities

Norris and Piastri have similar driving techniques and look for similar things from the car.

Lessons from his more experienced team-mate can therefore be largely transferred across.

That affords the young Aussie the freedom to focus on learning to maximise the package at his disposal.

“At the moment, from for myself anyway, I feel like there’s a needs to be a big emphasis on myself and my own learning,” Piastri reasoned.

“Lando has obviously been with the team for quite a while now and knows the team, knows the car better than I do at the moment.

“So I think in terms of set-up and car direction, stuff like that, he’s got a better idea at this point of what the car needs to be quick in terms of set-up.

“I just need to be able to drive as well as I can and extract the most from that – we [Norris and Piastri] seem to drive in quite a similar fashion which is helpful for both of us going forward.”

Piastri will be back in action this weekend at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

Track action at Albert Park starts on Thursday with F1 heading out for Free Practice 1 on