Piastri wants to be part of McLaren's next chapter of history
Ahead of the final race of the 2024 F1 season, Oscar Piastri is eager to assist McLaren to secure its first Constructors' title since1998 and thus becoming part of the next chapter of the Woking-based outfit's history.
McLaren go in search of their first constructors’ title since 1998 today in Abu Dhabi. The British outfit heads into the race 21 points clear of rivals Ferrari, the only team still able to deny them constructors’ glory.
After Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri locked out the front row for the papaya team, McLaren has put itself in the box seat to achieve that feat today. The qualifying's results backed up McLaren's one-two finishes in Free Practices 2 and 3 despite the challenges posed by Ferrari and Red Bull in the early stages of qualifying.
Asked what it would mean for him to help McLaren secure its first Constructors' title since 1998, Piastri said that it would be a huge achievement.
"I think it will be very special if we can pull it off. You know, you obviously don't want to speak about it too much before the race. But even in my two seasons with the team, we've gone on quite the roller coaster from the team principal change before my first race.
"The car was a bit slower than what I thought I'd signed up for. And then from one weekend to the next, it seemed, it went from being struggling to get into the points to almost being able to fight for a podium. So I think even for myself, it would really mean a lot.
"And I think McLaren's come close a few times, but never had this kind of opportunity in the last 25 years. So it would be very, very special to be one of the two drivers to bring McLaren back to the top and be part of that next chapter of history.
His team-mate Lando Norris was asked to comment on McLaren's improvement in the past season, with the Briton insisting that the Woking-based outfit has now "broken the barrier."
"The difference for me probably is just being at the team for a longer period. Yeah, Oscar’s probably fortunate not to go through those first few years that we've had. I mean, there's some very fun years. Yeah, that's true.
"We didn't start off great last year, but I had some great times. Started off with this guy [Sainz] and we made progress, stepped back, made progress, stepped back. Nothing ever clicked, really, and never continued to grow. And it was hard just to break that barrier of getting close to Ferrari, Mercedes, and Red Bull, you know, because for such a long period of time, they've been the guys who have dominated Formula 1.
"Now, not only have we broken that barrier over the last year and a half, we've risen to the top of it and to become the best team and leading and hopefully to go on to win. I don't think, simply from the outside, people would give McLaren and my team enough credit for what they've done, what they've turned around, because it's not an easy sport.
Norris continued: "It may look simple at times from the outside and things like that. And even I think sometimes things are more simple than what they look. But to go from where we were to outdo… You know, Ferrari have turned things around a lot over the last couple of years and to catch Red Bull, which I've said a couple of times, and Max, who, yeah, one year ago dominated every race. For that to flip around so much, we can only just give a hats off to the whole team, because a lot of things have changed.
"People have come and gone, and Andrea has done an incredible job. So to be part of this whole story, to be part of it not long after Zak joined McLaren and started changing things and making McLaren into a slightly more happy place than it was prior, I've been along the journey with Zak, and we've gone through a lot of things together, highs and lows and emotional times.
Despite multiple rumours that he might switch to a rival team, Norris elected to stay with McLaren, and he has now claimed that he is delighted with this decision.
"So it definitely has been a longer rise to get to where we are, which has been fun and I've really loved it and I've enjoyed it. And I think the thing I'll be proudest and most happy about is the fact I'm still here. The fact I'm still in papaya because I believed in the team for many years. I had opportunities to not be in papaya and to maybe go on and win races at an earlier stage in my career and those kind of things.
"I had those opportunities, but I believed and I wanted to simply do it with McLaren. I wanted to do it with the guys who gave me my opportunity in Formula 1. And as much as we didn't think it was going to be possible this year, we're hoping for next year. And next year was our kind of in-line target, on-paper target.
"The fact we're doing it this year is an even bigger achievement. Job not done, and Andrea will be happy that I say it, but I'm proud to be on this journey, to have been on it with McLaren for so many years, and I'll be very happy when hopefully it's all finished off," concluded Norris.
