Jul.11 (GMM) Oscar Piastri says he’s not getting downbeat regardless that teammate Lando Norris is at the moment essentially the most aggressive McLaren driver in 2024.
Many at the moment are concerning Norris as a real contender to tackle Max Verstappen for this 12 months’s drivers’ title, whereas Australian Piastri – though spectacular in simply his second 12 months in Components 1 – has lagged additional behind.
“You want setbacks and dips to enhance,” Piastri, 23, informed the Dutch broadcaster NOS.
“To peak, you need to study from the valleys. That takes time, however I’m competing towards very skilled drivers,” he added. “Lando is 24 and due to this fact one of many youngest, however he already has 5 years of expertise in F1.”
Norris has been wheel-to-wheel with Pink Bull’s triple world champion Verstappen lately, and Piastri is certain he additionally has that potential.
“I haven’t come throughout him (Verstappen) a lot on the monitor, as a result of he’s so dominant,” he stated. “I do know that he fights exhausting, however I don’t shrink back from that.
“I wish to beat everybody,” added Piastri, who’s managed by his compatriot Mark Webber. “Max nonetheless is aware of little or no about me, and that may be a bonus for me.”
Another excuse for Piastri to be upbeat is how shortly McLaren has managed to re-establish itself as a real high staff. “We needed to shut the hole with Pink Bull, however we have been aiming for the top of the season,” Piastri stated.
“Particularly within the gradual corners, we’ve gained lots of floor. Pink Bull appear much less efficient on slower circuits with lots of kerbs and bumps,” he defined. “However there may be at the moment no circuit the place we’re performing poorly.
“And it’s serving to us in the intervening time that (Sergio) Perez is scoring so poorly. It means Max has to do it on the personal. So it actually helps us that we’ve two automobiles on the entrance.”
