The physical and mental tuning helping Piastri acclimatise to F1
This year’s McLaren might not be up to scratch, but new boy Oscar Piastri is determined to be at his best after spending 2022 on the sidelines as Alpine’s reserve. STUART CODLING digs into what it takes to transform a junior-series champ into a hardened Formula 1 racing driver…
We’ve photographed Oscar Piastri in the gym. Not just any gym, of course; it’s the typically just-so fitness centre in the depths of the McLaren Technology Centre, softly lit and bedecked with inspirational slogans etched into the glass. It’s in rooms such as this where Piastri has been busily laying down the groundwork for his entrance to Formula 1.
There’s no question that F1 machinery is a physical step up from the world of junior single-seaters: while power steering mitigates that step to a degree, the g-forces are higher, the races longer, and the rigours of travel more intense. Much of the conditioning required can only come from driving… and seat time isn’t something Piastri enjoyed in great quantities through the last season where, having won the Formula 2 championship in 2021, he was warming the bench as Alpine’s reserve driver before McLaren swooped to the rescue.
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