F1 News
McLaren learned lessons: 'Everyone thought Red Bull would dominate'
- Savannah Lenz
During the 2024 season, Oscar Piastri and McLaren had a lot to learn. While McLaren did end up taking home the 2024 constructors' championship, they still lost out on the drivers' title. However, despite this, Piastri is still pleased with how the season went.
Speaking to the media, including GPBlog, Piastri said, "We learned a lot of lessons as a team".
"We wish we had had our version of the car, as it was in Miami, at the beginning of the year. That would have made life a bit easier. But I also think it's important to never give up. It's easy to say what I just said, but after the first race everyone thought Red Bull would dominate, and that hasn't been the case. We just have to keep working hard, and that is paying off tremendously now." In the beginning, McLaren did not have the most consistent car. However, they managed to turn that around for the rest of the season.
During the 2024 season, Piastri and Norris abided by "papaya rules". This rule allowed them to fight on track, but they needed to keep it clean and be careful. This often led to issues within the team as race wins and losses began to get messy.
Piastri on his 2024 season in Formula 1
"For me personally, I am largely satisfied with the season. There were some big things I wanted to improve on from last year, and I feel I made a lot of progress in that. But there are also things I have been less happy with this year. I definitely made it a bit harder on myself during qualifying than I would have liked."
Despite coming in fourth, the Australian still ended the season off on a happy note and as one of the drivers who finally brought a championship trophy to McLaren.
This article was written in collaboration with Esteban den Toom.
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