Oscar Piastri has dismissed the idea that he regrets leaving the Alpine F1 team to join McLaren in 2023 following the team’s slump in the Bahrain Grand Prix. At the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, Oscar Piastri retired on lap 13 of the 57-lap race with a wiring loop issue that could not be resolved by pitting to replace the steering wheel, making him the first to retire in the 2023 season. became a driver.
Meanwhile, team-mate Lando Norris had to pit six times to replace a pressure leak in the pneumatic system of his Mercedes-supplied F1 engine. Finally finished in 17th place on the restart. But despite his unreliability, McLaren seemed quietly content with a potential points-scoring pace that greatly disappointed his preseason expectations. Still, Pierre Gasly of the Alpine F1 team pulled back from last to ninth, prompting some to ridicule Piatori’s departure from Alpine last summer due to contractual troubles. “McLaren needed me.” However, FIA F2 and F3 champion Piastri refuted such points, and the attraction is that McLaren needs me more than pure machine performance. said he felt Piastri, who has been linked with a potential loan move to Williams after the deal approval committee opposed a deal with Alpine, said in Jeddah on Thursday: “For me it wasn’t a decision between the two teams. It’s not like that. “It was clear that I wanted to go to McLaren and the passion they showed for having me in the team. Size was also a big big factor in that.”So we don’t look at it in the same light, but I’m very focused on helping the team move forward and get back to where they are right now.” Piastri said he was satisfied with McLaren’s recovery plan, which included a significantly upgraded B-spec car for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in late April. There was also the question of whether he was disappointed that McLaren was less competitive than when he signed in August, when he was battling with Alpine for fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship. “At the moment it’s clear we’re not where we want to be,” Piastri replied. “We’ve been talking about it very openly.” “We have a good development plan in place to get back to where we should be, chasing the top three or four teams.” We’d love to see what it brings us.” “But obviously this will be one step in a multi-step plan for the rest of the year.”
