Oscar Piastri has been showered with praise following his tremendous drive around the streets of Monaco on Sunday night.
The Australian Formula 1 driver finished 10th in the famous stree circuit race, narrowly behind teammate Lando Norris.
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After starting 11th on the grid, the Aussie showed searing pace as the rain came pouring down, conditions which proved hard to deal with for almost every other driver.
As those around him struggled, Piastri showed his poise in the nightmare conditions to move up into the points with a precise overtake on AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda.
It was that move that saw McLaren Team Principal Andreas Stella shower him with praise. “In the race there was, if anything, another element of building race craft, which is a racing situation in which you first keep it on track with no mistakes, on dry tyres, on a track that is getting wet – and quite wet in some places,” Stella said to speedcafe.
“And then finding the rhythm in between the walls on the intermediate tyres.
“To be honest, for being a rookie, this is going to the most optimistic plan we could anticipate for Oscar.”
The immense driving display left Formula 1 icon Martin Brundle hyping up the young Aussie star for what he was showcasing.
“I tell you what that McLaren is mega in these conditions. Fastest man on track by a decent margin – Oscar Piastri in P10. The problem is they’re a lap down. But in these conditions the two young charges in Norris and Piastri are flying along. Impressive speed from McLaren,” Brundle said on Sky Sports.
After struggling in the opening races of the season as the McLaren car failed to keep pace with the rest of the grid, things finally look like they’re turning around.
“Given an improved car, we might be able to see a big difference in results. And that new and improved car will come maybe in Austria, definitely for Silverstone. Team principal Andreas Stella describing it as a completely new car,” David Croft said during race coverage.
“I think the first remarkable step forward during this weekend was yesterday in Qualifying,” Stella said of Piastri after the race.
“Up until the last session before Qualifying, he was more than half a second off Lando’s pace, with a bit of head scratching as to how would we go in Qualifying.
“Instead, Q1 was already competitive.
“We have this sense of ‘we have an objective, we go and get it; we have an objective, we go and get it.’
“That seems to be working very well with Oscar right from the start.”