McLaren outline "sensational" reasons for Piastri move

Ewan Gale
Wednesday 21 December 2022 08:55

McLaren CEO Zak Brown is confident Oscar Piastri will prove to be a "sensational" racing driver.

Piastri will make his F1 debut alongside Lando Norris as the replacement for Daniel Ricciardo, who moves back to Red Bull to become third driver after a challenging two years at McLaren.

Fellow Australian Piastri will face pressure to be quick from the get-go given the political wrangling for his services mid-season with Alpine who lost out to McLaren following a Contract Recognition Board hearing.

But Piastri has pedigree on his side with title wins in Formula Regional, F3 and F2 in successive years before becoming Alpine reserve driver over the past 12 months.

"We think Oscar will be a sensational racing driver," said Brown, addressing why he felt it fitting to sign Piastri.

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"If you look at his career to date, he has won a lot of championships in his first year which always tells you if a driver is special.

"He has got a great mental approach to this sport and now we feel Lando has a lot of experience, we feel we have a great blend of experience and youth, our experience just also happens to have youth.

"We sit here very excited for the potential of our driver line-up for the foreseeable future."