For Oscar Piasstri and Jack Doohan, their Grand Prix in Australia on Sunday marks the start of different trips.
Last year, Piasstri helped McLaren become the champion of Formula 1 manufacturers for the first time since 1998. Now he wants to win the driver’s title.
“I think I can become a world champion this year,” he said. “I feel 12 months ago I went to the season with some weaknesses that I was not particularly sure.
“Through their last season I went. They are now to deal with them every weekend and taking care that I put my best foot forward. This will be the difference.”
Doohan is one of the five recruits this season. After the Alpos promoted him from a reserve role, his goal is simpler.
“It will be for maximizing every inch of the car, airport, power unit, engineering and ensuring that I get everything from it and if the car is capable of being in the points, then I’m there,” he said.
“It is also to work properly with my teammate,” he said, referring to Pierre Gasly, “to get the car as above the network as possible and to ensure that our goal we all have in mind, to get the team back on the front, it is there.”
During the winter, Alpine signed a long deal with Franco Colapinto from Williams to be a reserve guide, with the idea of finally giving him a place. It impressed Alpine at the last nine Grands Prix last season after the replacement of Logan Sargeant.
Flavio Briatore, a former director of the Benetton and Renault team, who joined Alpine as executive adviser last year, Colapinto said “is one of the best young talents in Motorsport right now.”
With Colapinto virtually standing, Doohan is under pressure to perform to hold his seat.
“I am one of the 20 Formula 1 drivers in the world and I know when I was in Karting, Formula 3, Formula 2, I would do anything to be in Formula 1 and sacrifice everything,” said Dohan, son of five -year Matchycle Motorcycy Camper.
“Whether it’s someone in the team, outside the team. Anyone who has a good performance. You will always have pressure on your shoulders because you are in such a sports.”
Maria Catarineu, who is in the Colapinto Management Team, said Briatore was “very persistent” and “very intense” in the pursuit of Colapinto. “He always had Franco on his radar and wanted to have him at all costs,” he said.
Briatore said that Colapinto’s arrival in Formula 1 “took many, including me, surprisingly, and his appearances were very impressive for a recruitment guide.”
He continued: “We are watching our future and his signature means that we have a large group of new drivers to call and work together to develop the team for future success.”
Oliver Oakes, the director of the Alpine team, said he felt for Doohan, “but I think he has to be given some room for some rounds.”
“At the end of the day, like any driver, you have to deliver. I think he has done a great job to block the noise and continue with it.”
Oakes said he saw the pressure on Doohan of the signature of Colapinto differently. “Regardless of the driver you are, in any category, there is pressure,” he said. “No matter if this is in F1 or in the lower categories. Because Franco did a good job last year, natural people want to talk about it.
“As for whether he’s nice or kind to Jack, he drives a Formula 1 car. This is every boy’s dream, but it’s also his job. For me, it’s very simple. We’re here to fight. We want the best driver in the car, the best engine in the car.
Doohan is excited to start the season on the ground at home. For the first time since 2019, Albert Park in Melbourne hosts the first round.
“I really like the circuit,” he said. “It’s a difficult one in the park, half-road, half-noun, and can be quite slippery. I hope we start on the right foot. A good start for the year puts things for the rest.”
Piasstri, who is from Melbourne, begins his third season with McLaren. He said he was happy that the original struggle of his time in 2023 was not in Australia as “this would be enough”.
With his experience, he can now face the projector. “I am very excited to have the race as a opener,” Piastri said. “Growing up as a child, so I remember Melbourne. I know that Australian fans will surely be willing to see who will have what he will have in the first race. ”
Piasstri said the Melbourne circuit was more representative than Bahrain’s international circuit on how a car would run at a time. Bahrain has organized the opening round for the last four seasons.
“For us in recent years, Bahrain has not been our strongest circuit, but Melbourne has often called quite well for us,” he said. “It has a few things.
“I would say that asphalt is quite common with other circuits through the rest of the season. It is quite fresh, quite smooth, while Bahrain is very old now and rough. Melbourne is probably a better indicator.”
After winning the title of manufacturers last season, McLaren is one of my favorite this year. Piasstri and Lando Norris teammate are one of the leading candidates for the driver’s championship.
Piasstri has the opportunity to make a story on Sunday. No Australian driver has been classified in the first three in a Australian Grand Prix in the previous 38 matches. Daniel Ricciardo was on the podium in 2014, but was later excluded.
Piasstri won two Grands Prix last year and finished 82 points behind Norris. And Piasstri knows how to improve this season.
“There were a few weekends where I wasn’t as strong as I wanted to be,” he said. “It’s about building the durability to adjust a little faster on weekends.
“If a weekend started badly, it was difficult to make progress forward. We have gone to many details on how we can be better prepared for this season, and some of the most specific driving opportunities.”
The qualifying was an area that Piasstri said he “wanted to work”, but it wasn’t just “for the best qualifying”.
“There are details that if I can improve them, it will do everything better,” he said, without adding details. “Then you get the trust. And all of course helps himself. And these weekends from last season will disappear.”
An element for drivers and Andrea Stella, the leader of the McLaren team, will be if Norris and Piasstri are fighting for the driver’s title.
“I look forward to this challenge,” Stella said. “It means we are doing well as a team, that the two drivers are doing well, that the car is competitive and we did a good job from a technical and racing point of view.
“In terms of the way we manage it, they start with equal opportunities and touch our racing authorities and very good talks with our drivers.”
Piastri said that he and Norris would “fight each other hard but fairly”.
“Hopefully, he often fights for the first and second.”
