Oscar Piastri names the ‘biggest area’ he has to improve that’s cost him this season

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There are few young drivers in Formula 1 or the supporting junior series who have as much potential as Oscar Piastri.

A Sprint Race winner in his debut F1 season, Oscar Piastri took the chequered flag in Hungary to win his first Grand Prix faster than teammate Lando Norris, Daniel Ricciardo and George Russell.

Piastri’s audacious move on McLaren teammate Lando Norris on the opening lap of the Italian Grand Prix highlighted just how talented he is.

Martin Brundle got confirmation from Piastri’s overtake on his teammate that his focus isn’t on helping the Brit win the Drivers’ Championship at this stage of the season.

McLaren are likely to change their papaya rules from Baku onwards to aid Norris further although asking Piastri to move aside or potentially even slow down won’t be easy.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about McLaren F1 Team from team principal to engine

However, the team will point to Norris stepping aside to allow Piastri to take his maiden win in Hungary to highlight that the cooperation goes both ways.

In an interview with Motorsport Week, Piastri admitted that he’s happy with how this season is going but knows he hasn’t been perfect.

Nico Rosberg was unsure about Piastri’s driving style at the start of the season but he’s made vast improvements in that area as the campaign has gone on.

However, Piastri knows he still needs to do more to maximise his performance in qualifying.

The Australian has only out-qualified Norris on three occasions this year but has tended to be better at getting off the line.

Oscar Piastri knows he needs to improve his performance in qualifying

Talking about what he can still work on, Piastri said: “There’s definitely been weekends that could have been better.

“I think qualifying is probably the main area, I would say, to improve things a little bit.

“In Zandvoort [when Norris won as he finished fourth], it cost me a bit, I would say, so I think that’s probably the biggest area now to try and perfect.

READ MORE: McLaren driver Oscar Piastri’s life outside F1 from height to girlfriend

“But on the whole, I’ve been happy with it, and I think my good weekends this year, I’ve been very happy with.

“Even Miami, even though I didn’t really finish the race, I was very happy with the weekend there.

“Budapest, Spa, to name a couple, I’ve been very, very happy with how I’ve performed on those weekends.”

Oscar Piastri didn’t break the historic McLaren ‘pact’ by overtaking Norris at Monza

McLaren need to establish their plans for Norris and Piastri before they arrive in Baku if they’re going to maximise their chances of winning both championships.

A historic McLaren pact meant Piastri’s move on Norris in Monza was fine but team principal Andrea Stella won’t want the 23-year-old taking any more points off his teammate.

People in the paddock have questioned McLaren’s thinking when it comes to their drivers and while they’ve been keeping things as fair as possible, that’s not how other teams have dominated the sport in the past.

The likes of Rubens Barrichello, Valtteri Bottas and now Sergio Perez have all had their positions at Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull made explicitly clear.

Piastri is much too fast to be considered in the same category but might have to be reined in until the end of the season for the good of the team.