How raised “self-awareness” will boost Piastri in his second F1 year

The testing he did with an old Alpine gave him a head start, but that programme ended in the summer of 2022 after his move to McLaren was announced.

He didn’t sit in a racing car in the second half of the year, and his Bahrain debut was his first race since the 2022 F2 finale some 15 months earlier.

He not only had to go through the usual rookie learning process but also had to do it with a car that was uncompetitive and difficult to drive in…