Formula 1 rookie Oscar Piastri admits it’s been difficult to get up to speed on new circuits after a season out of the seat.
After winning the FIA Formula 2 Championship in 2021, the young Australian sat on the sidelines with Alpine before being swooped on by McLaren.
Already he’s raced on two unfamiliar tracks; namely the Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit in his home of Melbourne and the Miami International Autodrome in the United States.
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He scored his first points in a chaotic finish to his home grand prix but recorded his worst result in Miami – outside of a DNF in the Bahrain Grand Prix – finishing 19th.
Of the 22 circuits on this year’s calendar, half of those he has never raced on in Formula 2 or Formula 3.
Circuit Gilles Villeneuve will host the Canadian Grand Prix this weekend, the third uncharted territory for Piastri.
Speaking with Stan Sport’s SpeedSeries commentator Greg Rust on his podcast Rusty’s Garage, Piastri said the new circuits add extra pressure come crunch time.
“It definitely adds a spanner in the works,” said Piastri.
“Obviously, we’ve had a lot of tracks that are either street circuits or new or both in some cases. It’s not been the easiest start to the season from a calendar standpoint.
“I think there have been a couple of races where coming into qualifying I’ve had a bit of a gap to try and make up and it’s not the nicest feeling going into qualifying knowing you have to step your game up a bit more.
“I think, here in Canada obviously, another new track, another difficult track. It’s basically another street circuit with how close the walls are here and there’s a lot of weather around; it’s raining as we speak.
“It’ll be a difficult learning experience but I’m looking forward to it and obviously the quicker I can get up to speed the better it is for myself, the better it is for the engineers. It just makes things a little bit easier for everyone.”
Piastri heads to Canada with upgrades to the floor of his McLaren MCL60 that it’s hoped will improve the team’s performance.
The 22-year-old said early signs from simulations are promising but that they won’t get a real read until the first practice on Saturday.
“I think we’re optimistic about it,” he said.
“All the engineers and aerodynamicists have all the numbers and what they’ve seen in the (wind) tunnel in CFD looks encouraging.
“Obviously, we’ve got to make sure that translates to the real track.
“It’s kind of the first step from Baku where we went in a bit of a different direction with the floor in particular and this is building on that direction for the first time.
“It should be a good step forward. Time will tell how much exactly but we’re encouraged by the numbers so far. I think we can be optimistic.”
Piastri sits 13th in the drivers’ championship after seven races with five points to his name.
His best finish to date remains eighth in the Australian Grand Prix and 10th at the Monaco Grand Prix.
Teammate Lando Norris occupies 11th with just 12 points.
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