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Oscar Piastri has banked mileage at the wheel of a Formula 1 car at the Hungaroring ahead of this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix.
The Australian took in a day’s running at the home of the Hungarian Grand Prix on the Wednesday following the Spanish GP.
It’s a circuit he has driven before in F1 machinery and comes seven races into his fledgling career.
There, he took part in a three-day test alongside IndyCar points leader Alex Palou and McLaren’s test and development driver Oliver Turvey.
The trio shared a 2021-spec McLaren MCL35M.
“It was nice – another day in an F1 car is always a good day,” Piastri said.
“It’d been a while since I’d been there.
“Cool track in an F1 car, especially a lot of high-speed corners to really feel the limits of an F1 car, so it was a fun day out.”
That outing followed a Spanish GP that saw Piastri slip backwards from his 10th-place grid spot to 13th at the chequered flag.
It was a performance the team largely predicted, reasoning at the time that it had maximised its own potential while others had underdelivered, resulting in a flattering qualifying session for both Piastri and Lando Norris.
“We knew what our limitations were going to be,” Piastri said in Canada on Thursday, “and Sunday proved to be correct in what we thought would happen.
“I think we understand where we need to work, and where we need to improve and now it’s just about delivering on that.”
Piastri’s preparation for the coming weekend in Canada has included a limited simulator session, which left him excited to get on track in Montreal.
It will be his first taste of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, the third entirely new venue of his F1 career.
Opening practice in Canada begins at 13:30 local time on Friday (03:30 AEST Saturday).
Oscar’s back at track. 👊
He’s in Hungary for our MCL35M testing programme. 🏁 pic.twitter.com/b9z2M6TneZ
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) June 7, 2023
