Formula 1 sophomore sensation Oscar Piastri looks like the real deal: the McLaren driver’s standout Azerbaijan Grand Prix victory had all the hallmarks of a future world champion.
Piastri’s first F1 win at the Hungarian Grand Prix felt muddied slightly by the clumsy and prolonged back-and-forth between McLaren and teammate Lando Norris about the latter moving over to give the Australian the lead; the team had inadvertently swapped the pair around through their strategy calls. There was nothing to overshadow his second. It was a breakthrough performance that will be difficult to replicate in a hurry.
He’s been on a remarkable journey to this point. Little more than two years ago, Piastri’s future could not have been less clear.
In August 2022, Alpine put out a news release stating that the boy wonder who had won Formula 3 and Formula 2 in the previous seasons would be racing for them the following season. On the surface, there was nothing unusual about that; Piastri had been a member of the Alpine driver academy and felt like the future face of their F1 programme.
His iconic reply changed the course of F1 history.
I understand that, without my agreement, Alpine F1 have put out a press release late this afternoon that I am driving for them next year. This is wrong and I have not signed a contract with Alpine for 2023. I will not be driving for Alpine next year.
— Oscar Piastri (@OscarPiastri) August 2, 2022
Piastri had been in contact with McLaren CEO Zak Brown about replacing Daniel Ricciardo. The door had been left open by Alpine’s dithering over his future. The French team had backed themselves into a corner by signing Esteban Ocon to a longer deal, and then struggled to decide on whether to stick with Fernando Alonso or twist with Piastri, and in the end saw both drivers walk to rival teams.
McLaren eventually got Piastri after a court hearing. It was rough early on; McLaren’s 2023 season started so poorly that the team sacked technical director James Key. Eighteen months later, it is leading the constructors’ championship and might well have a sniff at the drivers’ title with Norris. Piastri never imagined it would turn around so spectacularly.
“Even in those 18 months, the benefit of making that decision has gone through a hell of a rollercoaster,” he said to ESPN in Monza of his move from Alpine to McLaren. “For me, regardless of results, there was a lot of things on both sides of that story that led to me joining McLaren. I more or less knew or had the…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at www.espn.com – RPM…