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Brown: Maturing Piastri has lost his F1 “rookie stripes”
Oscar Piastri has entered his home race in Melbourne this year with a much stronger position than last year’s debut, when McLaren was struggling with an uncompetitive car at the Australian GP, which was only his third F1 start. In his rookie season, Piastri focused on building up his pace over the weekend, while this season he has been pushing Norris hard from the start, achieving an eighth place in Bahrain and a fourth place in Jeddah.
Zak Brown, McLaren’s CEO, commended Piastri’s progress, noting his quick adaptation and lack of mistakes, making him one of the closest drivers to his teammate in performance. Brown highlighted that Piastri seems more relaxed this year, enjoying a better race car and showing maturity and confidence. Last season, McLaren started off struggling with no points in the first two races but has shown significant improvement this year.
McLaren aims to build on their strong racing car and teamwork, striving for continuous improvement in a highly competitive field. Brown expressed excitement for the future races and the potential for even better performances from Piastri and the team as a whole.
