Oscar Piastri reveals the ‘massive factor’ for his McLaren switch

Oscar Piastri claims he has no regrets about choosing McLaren over Alpine for the 2023 season despite his team's dismal form. The Australian cited the Woking team's 'passion' in him as a main reason for choosing them over Alpine.

Piastri failed to get the dream start he wanted in F1 with McLaren, having been forced to drop out of the season opener after just 13 laps. Despite his team's woeful form, the former F2 champion believes he is in the right place.

The 21-year-old made headlines last year when he was the center of F1's silly season. The driver was set to join Alpine when it was revealed that the team didn't have a ready contract for him. As a result, he chose McLaren, a team he has always admired.

Oscar Piastri said as per Motorsport.com:

“For me, it was never really a decision of the two teams. It never really came down to that. For me, it was clear that I wanted to join McLaren with the amount of passion that they showed to having me in the team, which was a massive, massive factor in that."

Oscar Piastri reveals the one area where he is lacking compared to Lando Norris

Piastri believes that consistency is one area he is lacking when compared to his McLaren teammate Lando Norris. Piastri dropped out of his first race after just 13 laps.

Norris is known to be one of the most consistent drivers on the grid. While he has never set foot in a championship-winning car, the Briton is known for his amazing performances in subpar machinery.

Oscar Piastri, on the other hand, claims to be struggling with consistency on a lap-to-lap basis. He explained how he performed well on some of the laps but lacked pace on others. Piastri said:

"It’s now just putting it all together really, which I think is sort of the last hurdle. It feels like I can do it here and there in different laps but just putting it all in one, that last bit of consistency is what I’m lacking at the moment."

All is far from lost for the young Australian as he will have a lot of opportunities to build his consistency and rise to the top of the sport. It will be interesting to watch Piastri's battle with his teammate over the course of the year.