McLaren boss Zak Brown has leapt to the defence of new driver Oscar Piastri. In one of the biggest talking points throughout the F1 season, the Australian signed for the Woking-based outfit when it appeared he was going to fill a seat at Alpine left by Fernando Alonso.
Piastri snubbing Alpine’s promotion, after they had announced he would be their new driver next season, further exacerbated the situation. The case went to F1’s Contract Recognition Board to determine which team had the valid contract with Piastri. They ruled in the favour of McLaren with the Board declaring Alpine only ever had a term sheet with the driver.
Since then, an aggrieved Otmar Szafnauer, Alpine's team boss, questioned the integrity of the youngster. This angered Brown who slammed what he felt was unfair criticism of his new driver. “I’ve been very impressed with how he conducted himself over the summer,” said Brown of Piastri, as per the BBC.
“I thought Otmar’s comments towards Oscar were very unfair and not accurate. Especially having sat through the CRB and now I know exactly what happened. I thought the way Otmar called his integrity into question was very inaccurate and unfair, especially coming from Otmar.
“And (Piastri) was very mature through the whole process. For a 21-year-old having all that pressure and spotlight, he was not frazzled, kept his head down. We’ve had him in our [old] car. He did an excellent job and I think he’s going to be a future star.”
Piastri drove the McLaren for the first time at the post-season test in Abu Dhabi this week, and Brown stressed the importance of the team helping the Aussie to acclimatise to his new setup, especially given he did not race in another category throughout 2022, or make an FP1 appearance.
“What’s important is he’s not raced for a year,” the American added. “We don’t have a lot of testing and I wish there was more pre-season testing. Not just for Oscar, but just in general. Because effectively he’s just going to get a day and a half. Which is not a lot. I think he’s going to be competitive and push Lando. We just need to give him time to grow into the team."
Following his first public outing as a McLaren driver, Piastri expressed his delight at now being a part of the team who have won eight F1 constructors championships. “It’s a cool feeling,” Piastri told the official F1 website. “A very different feeling to the Young Driver Test that I did last year because I knew that was a day to have fun in an F1 car whereas this year, it’s a building block towards next year.
“But it was awesome to have my first day with McLaren, get to know everyone in the team and try and improve, get back up to speed for next year. A pretty special one.” He added: "A lot of new names to learn, that’s up there with one of the most important things – especially getting into good communications with my engineers in the team in particular, learning how we get feedback and what we want to adjust, getting to learn each other. That’s 100% what today is about.
“Driving the car today was the most positive thing and you obviously can’t substitute anything for track time. So I think having today especially was really important, a really positive thing to have. I’m in the factory next week to have my official introduction which will be nice and meet everyone there. A lot of people to meet so I’m looking forward to that."
