Piastri reflective and relieved after McLaren dream deal
Tuesday, 27 September 2022
The Australian admitted that replacing another fellow countryman had the potential to be awkward.
Oscar Piastri has described his ascension to a Formula 1® race seat with McLaren in 2023 as a mixture of relief, happiness and excitement as the 21-year-old Melburnian prepares to race ten minutes from his childhood home at Albert Park for the first time next April.
Piastri was named as Daniel Ricciardo's successor at McLaren on September 2, his signature coming after a bitter contractual tug-of-war with the British team and Alpine, for whom Piastri serves as a test and reserve driver this season.
After his name was in the headlines constantly in the lead-up to and aftermath of Ricciardo's contact with McLaren being terminated in late August, Piastri told the In the Fast Lane podcast that the confirmation of his 2023 F1® plans felt like the end of one journey, and equally like ground zero for the next phase of his career.
"It was relief – it was obviously a pretty stressful time with the CRB (Contract Resolution Board) hearing – and obviously happiness," Piastri told the Australian Grand Prix Corporation's official podcast.
"This is something I've been working towards since I started racing 11 years ago, so to finally know what my future holds, firstly, and secondly that it would be in F1, that was a relief and a very, very happy moment.
"You’ve made it, but it's almost like you're starting over … everything that I've done so far in my career has been preparation for this point. There was a little bit of reflection on the journey to here, but also aware it's the start of the 'real journey'. This is the main part that I wanted to achieve … to be able to do that in F1, it's pretty hard to find a better day job than that. I want to make sure it's my job for a while now."
Piastri admitted that replacing Ricciardo at McLaren had the potential to be awkward but was appreciative of the 33-year-old reaching out when his 2023 plans were made public over the Dutch Grand Prix weekend at Zandvoort.
"I was planning on getting in touch myself, but with the timing of things, he was at a race … quite frankly I didn't know if he wanted to hear from me," Piastri admitted.
"I was trying to think of what to say, but he beat me to it. That was a true professional, my respect for him was always extremely high and it's only got higher in the way he's responded.
"Him getting in touch like that was great for me personally, knowing that there were no hard feelings. That helps me quite a lot, and it was a nice moment. If I can get close to emulating the success he's had on track and the character he is off the track, I think I'll be doing a reasonable job."
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