First F1 points in “crazy race” was good karma for McLaren

Fortune went the way of both McLaren drivers during a hectic event at Albert Park, with the chaotic final restart leaving Piastri in eighth place and his team-mate Lando Norris in sixth.

McLaren didn’t score any points in the first two races, with Piastri retiring with an electrical issue in Bahrain and left stranded at the back of the field in Jeddah after suffering damage on the opening lap and the debris then hitting Norris.

“Definitely happy to get my first points on the board, especially here at home,” he said when asked by Motorsport.com about his F1 home debut race.

“It was a crazy race, obviously. I think it’s the first race where I’ve have had three red flags, I think it’s probably most people’s first race like that. So yeah, kept ourselves out of trouble. And ended up in the points at the end, which is great.”

Asked if he felt it was a case of karma after the tricky start to 2023, he said: “Maybe a little bit. I feel like the first two races really couldn’t have gone that much worse for the team, obviously in Bahrain we both had our issues, and Saudi with the contacts wiping out both of us.

“It was nice to be on the good end of other things going wrong for other people.”

Piastri spent much of the race fighting with Yuki Tsunoda and he conceded that McLaren has to find some straightline speed in order to be able to race other cars.

“I think the first start and the first lap were pretty good,” he said. “Then the middle of the race I just got stuck behind Yuki a bit too long. I just couldn’t really find a way past. I was trying a few different things with the battery to try and use it in the right place and stuff.

“We obviously know we’re quite slow on the straights at the moment, which is something we’re looking to address. I think the AlphaTauri probably wasn’t that much quicker in a straight line.

“But I think even with the fourth DRS zone, it’s still just difficult to overtake here. And I think for me, still some learning to do on how to use the battery most effectively to overtake. But I got a lot of practice with it today.

“Some things I can work on there. But I think once I got past the pace seemed to be pretty good. So positive day, and definitely some still some learning to do.”

Piastri also said the overall result was motivating for the team especially given the compromise of having to wait until Baku and the major upgrade…