Oscar Piastri says McLaren can take inspiration from Aston Martin’s leap in performance over the winter break as it looks to make improvements going forward.
McLaren has failed to start the 2023 campaign successfully, enduring two difficult opening races.
Piastri retired a handful of laps into the grand prix at Bahrain while a pneumatic leak ruined Lando Norris’ race in Sakhir.
Saudi Arabia saw both drivers pick up damage on the opening lap which sent them to the back of the field, where they remained throughout the race.
Ahead of the 2023 campaign, McLaren acknowledged that it was anticipating a difficult start as it missed development goals with its car.
Upgrades are expected for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend, which the team hopes will boost its performance.
Piastri, who is one of three rookies in the field this year, says Aston Martin’s notable leap towards the front of the field this year can act as motivation.
“We’re obviously not where we want to be at the moment,” Piastri said. “And we’ve been very open about that.
“We’ve got a good development programme in place to try and get ourselves back to where we should be, which is chasing the top three or four teams.
“Obviously to get on the same level as those top three or four teams is difficult, but I think we can probably take inspiration from what Aston Martin has been able to do over the winter and try and energise ourselves with it is possible to make that jump with a lot of hard work.
“So yeah, I think obviously we want to try and get back, we’ll see what these new developments in Baku bring for us, but obviously it’s going to be a step in what is a multi-step plan for us this year.”
McLaren currently sit at the bottom of the Constructors’ Championship, having failed to score points at the opening two rounds of the year.
Next up on the calendar is a trip to Melbourne, with Piastri set to endure his first home race.
