Shanghai win is a confidence boost, claims Piastri

On the back of his third F1 win, McLaren driver Oscar Piastri insisted that his latest triumph at last Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix will act a confidence boost for the coming months.

Although Lewis Hamilton dominated proceedings in Saturday's sprint race in China, the 56-lap grand prix ended with a one-two finish for McLaren, with Oscar Piastri ahead of Lando Norris, the Australian taking the third win of his career.

For the Woking-based outift, it was win number 191, it’s third in a row and the fourth at this event, the first in 14 years, since Lewis Hamilton won in 2011. Piastri and Norris secured McLaren’s 50th one-two finish, the second for this driver pairing after they finished in the same order in Budapest last year.

While Piastri struggled for a consistent race pace last year at Shanghai, he displayed a much improved form this season. The Australian denied that it would be down to the new asphalt, but he noted that his more satisfying performance was a result of the hard work he has carried out with his team.

"I mean, I think saying I struggled a little bit last year is being pretty nice. It was a big turnaround this weekend compared to China last year. It was a track that I had a lot of homework to do from 12 months ago. Yes, it’s changed a lot with the resurfacing, but there’s still a lot of challenges around just the layout, regardless of the surface.

"So yeah, I think for me it’s been very satisfying to have probably my most complete weekend in F1 this weekend be at a track I struggled the most at last year. So very pleased with the hard work that not just I’ve done, but the whole team around me.

"The engineers on my side of the garage, but everyone at McLaren—for firstly giving us a car that’s much stronger than it was 12 months ago here, but also being able to chip in where they can and try to help me improve.

"So I think it’s been a really nice show of progress in 12 months, but there’s still going to be challenges along the way. It’s just a nice confidence boost at the moment."