McLaren fixed key Oscar Piastri issue this season that worried Damon Hill during 2024 testing

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When pre-season testing ended ahead of the start of the 2024 Formula 1 season, even the most optimistic McLaren fans couldn’t have predicted what was about to happen.

When the chequered flag flew at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix nearly ten months after testing ended across the border in Bahrain, few would have expected Lando Norris to be a four-time race winner.

Not only that, but his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri stood on the top step of the podium twice – in Hungary and Azerbaijan – as the Woking-based team went on to win the Constructors’ Championship.

They’ve come an awful long way, not just since sitting bottom of the standings at the beginning of the 2023 campaign, but throughout this year as well.

During the opening races, McLaren appeared to be the fourth-fastest team, challenging Mercedes but sitting slightly behind Ferrari and well off the pace of Red Bull.

However, an update delivered at the Miami Grand Prix – where Norris won his maiden race – changed the landscape of the season.

Damon Hill spoke at the beginning of the year with Pedro De La Rosa on the F1 Nation Podcast and spotted one concern he had in particular with Piastri’s car.

It’s safe to say that McLaren more than rectified that as the year went on.

McLaren fixed Oscar Piastri concern that Damon Hill spotted during pre-season

Hill was worried about how hard Piastri’s McLaren was to drive during the three-day test in Bahrain in February.

The balance looked to be off and as every team has learned this season, that’s arguably even more important than downforce with this generation of cars.

Talking at the time, De La Rosa said: “It didn’t look like an easy car to drive out there. When I was watching through the corners, and you could tell that the drivers were fighting.

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“Especially, I was watching Oscar [Piastri] on his short runs on day three and he was trying to put a lap time together and he kept going off at turn 11 on the exit, so the car was definitely not easy to drive.

“They were fast, yes, but they were having to fight it a bit more.”

Damon Hill responded to De La Rosa’s concerns and simply replied: “Now that is a bit worrying.”

Oscar Piastri already touted as Lando Norris’ biggest enemy heading into 2025

Nico Rosberg had concerns about Piastri’s driving style earlier in the season, but those issues appear to have been rectified now as the car has become more competitive.

Although he didn’t win in Monaco, to outqualify so many more experienced drivers highlights his potential and although he dropped off slightly towards the end of the year, the concerns Hill had were gone too.

Guenther Steiner thinks Piastri will be Norris’ biggest enemy in 2025 as they’ll likely be competing against each other in the quickest car.

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The young Australian is so highly rated and with so many rookies arriving next year, his performances are the gold standard for them.

Zak Brown wants McLaren’s drivers to learn from Lewis Hamilton and his attitude towards racing Max Verstappen.

As Piastri showed in Abu Dhabi, even though the Dutchman ended up spinning him around, he proved he wasn’t going to jump out of his way in wheel-to-wheel combat.