Piastri on the podium? “It’s about getting the car right,” says Westacott
“It will all depend on how competitive the McLaren car is. It’s about getting the car right and right now every team has hope written on the front of their car.
Australian Grand Prix CEO Andrew Westacott at Albert Park on Tuesday.Credit:Getty Images
“McLaren have a driver who can take them to the top steps of the podium. And if they get the package right, then the combination of Oscar Piastri and [teammate] Lando Norris will be very strong for many years to come.”
By the time he arrives in Melbourne, Piastri will have raced in both Saudi Arabia and the Bahrain opener.
“He’s not a debutant when he first comes to Albert Park; He has two races behind him,” said Westacott.
Of course, comparisons are drawn between Piastri and Ricciardo, who has returned to Red Bull as a reserve driver.
“I thought Daniel Ricciardo would beat Mark Webber’s record of nine GP wins and he’s up to eight at the moment. Let’s let Oscar come into the season,” Westacott said, adding “time will tell” if Piastri will be more successful.
dr Matthew Miles, CEO of Westacott and Assistance Dogs Australia, in announcing their charity partners on Tuesday.Credit:Getty Images
One difference between the Aussies could be that Piastri will keep a lower profile, Westacott suggested, tipping his manager Webber to tame the crowd too.
“He’s going to stay behind the scenes for a bit,” he said. “We don’t need to get our pound of meat out of Oscar from a media standpoint. We want to leave him. We want to leave the action on the track to him.”
Several changes could make this year’s Albert Park competition the fastest ever, including an additional zone that allows drivers to use a drag reduction system that is only allowed to be activated in three other areas of the track. Modifications to the cars could also improve race times.
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“We assume that this will be the fastest Formula 1 [in Australia] ever,” Westacott said.
“To put that in perspective, the 5.3 kilometers around this route makes a survey time about one minute 17 [seconds]and a lap time of about one minute and 20 [seconds]. We await those times reached in 2022 [to be faster] with the DRS zone this year.”
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https://www.smh.com.au/sport/motorsport/piastri-on-the-podium-it-s-about-getting-the-car-right-says-westacott-20230221-p5cm7w.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_sport Piastri on the podium? “It’s about getting the car right,” says Westacott
