Pressure on for Oscar Piastri as he prepares for McLaren F1 debut after replacing Daniel Ricciardo

He may be a new face on the F1 grid this season, but Australian rookie Oscar Piastri may forget to think about a grace period, with one prominent commentator saying he only has six months left to act.

Piastri made headlines in 2022 when he replaced fellow Australian Daniel Ricciardo in a messy divorce at McLaren and then early-season problems with his car – the same problems that plagued Ricciardo during his time at the manufacturer.

Now the 21-year-old is ready to let his racing speak for itself after winning three consecutive Formula 3 and Formula 2 championships.

Sky Sports F1 commentator Martin Brundle said the pressure will be on Piastri from the opening race at the Bahrain Grand Prix on Monday.

“I think it will depend on how it starts for him, the first few races,” he said. fox sports.

‘If you get good results and gain some confidence, then there will be a big deviation somewhere that catches your attention, inevitable.

“But if you start with a few tangles in the first few corners and a little bit of reliability, maybe you can’t find your way one weekend and your chin falls off, that’s a very telling moment as to whether you can change that and keep your confidence in yourself.

“They’re probably given, if you’re going to be generous, the first half of the season to find their way, but in the second half of the season they need to be on it or they’re going to change.”

‘There are no excuses in Formula 1. There is nowhere to hide. You have to comply.

Despite the pressure, Brundle believes the young driver has what it takes to succeed at this level.

“He comes very well qualified,” he said. I like talking to the boy.

“He’s very bright, he’s very focused, extremely focused, from what I can gather, and a lot of people he’s risen through the ranks have spoken incredibly highly of him.

“Formula 1 is a different game: longer races, bigger cars, heavier cars, especially at the start of the race. He has Lando Norris on the other side of the garage, a team like McLaren with high expectations. So you will need all that confidence.

‘[But] All the signs and all they tell me is that he’s the real deal.

Piastri himself believes his year away from racing has only made him hungrier to finally get back into action and fulfill his dream of becoming a Formula One driver.

Speaking on the eve of race weekend at the Bahrain Grand Prix on Thursday, McLaren’s much-touted Australian rookie admitted that his F1 debut would be the culmination of a dream he’s had since starting out as a nine-year-old driver. years.

“It’s been about 12 years since I started racing so everything I’ve done up to this point has led me to now,” reflected the 21-year-old from Melbourne.

“To call myself a Formula One driver and to be preparing for my first race is a special feeling, definitely.”

Piastri, the only Australian on the grid after replacing compatriot Daniel Ricciardo at British giant McLaren, enters his debut race with a shining junior resume but some ring rust after not racing at all in 2022 when I was reserved at Alpine.

“After that year, I definitely got a new appreciation for how much I enjoy racing,” he said.

‘Even in bad times, it’s better to have those bad times than no times at all, I learned.

“I did some testing last year, a lot of testing just on the track, but obviously it’s not the same as having other people around you.

“I did a bit of sim racing at home, but it’s hard to replicate the real thing without racing.

“So I think I’ve come back probably hungrier than before and now that we’re here on the grid, it’s a great feeling.” I really want to get stuck.

Expectations for Piastri, who has been called ‘extremely gifted’ by McLaren team principal Andrea Stella, have been dimmed only because of the team’s obvious pre-season woes.

‘Obviously the test (last week’s pre-season session in Bahrain) was not the smoothest, but I think tomorrow we will better understand where we are. I think we are somewhere in the midfield,” Piastri said.

But despite McLaren sounding alarm bells about its prospects when CEO Zak Brown said last week the team had missed its development targets, Piastri’s teammate Lando Norris offered a more positive assessment on Thursday. .

“I don’t think we are in a terrible place as it is,” said the Briton.

“We may not be as strong as we want to be, but we may not be as bad as some people expect either.” We’ve got some good stuff coming our way…it’s a long season.’