Zak Brown says ‘mega fast’ 22-year-old driver was simply ‘unbelievable’ during 2023 season

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McLaren CEO Zak Brown has been sharing just how impressed he was with Oscar Piastri during his rookie season in 2023.

Oscar Piastri had big shoes to fill when he replaced Daniel Ricciardo last year but performed admirably alongside teammate Lando Norris.

Speaking to Speedcafe, Zak Brown shared some of the things that impressed him the most about the 22-year-old.

All eyes are on McLaren heading into 2024. At the start of last season, Piastri and Norris must have wondered what they had gotten themselves into.

The Australian had given up a guaranteed seat at Alpine who finished fourth in the Constructors’ Championship.

Instead, McLaren were right at the back of the grid with Piastri suffering multiple reliability issues in Bahrain.

However, fast forward 12 months and it looks like an inspired decision from both the driver and the team to poach him from their French counterparts.

Zak Brown has shared what really impressed him about Piastri during the 2023 season as the 22-year-old secured the team’s only win during the Sprint Race in Qatar.

He’s got a long way to go until he’s considered among the top drivers in Formula 1.

However, based on his first 12 months in the series, he’s on the right track to be in the conversation one day.

Brown hails McLaren rookie Piastri after 2023 campaign

Asked about the youngster, Brown said: “He’s been unbelievable. We knew he was mega fast, but with any rookie, especially one that took a year off, you think there’d be some rust there.

“I didn’t see any rust, he rinsed it off pretty quickly and I think what was most impressive about him was his patience, his attitude, his technical ability and his build-up to a weekend.

“I think a lot of young drivers try and win on Friday they end up crashing and then you’re on your back foot all weekend and Oscar was one session at a time.

“He knew it didn’t count until Q3 and qualifying so he would experiment, he would learn, he would listen, he would talk to Lando [Norris], he would look at data, sometimes he was there on Friday, you know in Monaco he was a half a second off, come qualifying he was right there.

“And that was impressive to have a driver with that type of maturity of building into a weekend.

“His racecraft is getting stronger and stronger which is a hard part with the lack of experience. These tyres are tricky to manage over a race and he just built into the weekends wonderfully.”

Brown will hope that Piastri and McLaren can replicate their success at the end of 2023 at the start of 2024.

Christian Horner admitted that Piastri was ‘very impressive’ last year and Eddie Jordan thinks he’ll have Max Verstappen looking over his shoulder one day.

That all depends on whether McLaren can deliver a car capable of winning races.

Lando Norris has shown just how close they can get with their current machinery, securing six second-place finishes last year.

Going one better has to be the aim for the McLaren-based team going forward.