With five races under his belt in his Formula 1 career, Oscar Piastri has secured the best record of any of the rookies who joined the grid in 2023.
Piastri took his first points in his home race around the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne, finishing the race in eighth.
The four points were secured despite the McLaren having been underwhelming so far, with Piastri and teammate Lando Norris struggling for success.
McLaren team principal Andreas Stell has claimed that the problems at the team are historic, with engineers working to address their performance failings.
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The other two rookies to join F1 this season, Nyck de Vries and Logan Sargeant remain pointless, having endured disappointing starts at their respective teams.
While McLaren is languishing in fifth place in the Constructors’ Standings, tied with rivals Alpine, Piastri has established a strong partnership with his race engineer, key to ensuring his success on the race track.
Piastri’s engineer is former Olympic rower Tom Stallard, who secured the silver medal at the 2008 games in Beijing.
Stallard joined McLaren after leaving rowing, working with Formula 1 drivers including Jenson Button, Carlos Sainz and Daniel Ricciardo.
Now paired with Piastri, the duo have developed a bond that the Australia driver hopes will give him guidance to grow at the team.
“We’ve been working together really well. He’s got a lot of experience in F1. A lot of experience in elite level sport as well.
“With more race weekends, we’re getting to know each other’s style better and better.”
“We did a lot of work before the season to make sure we’re speaking the same language and working on the same wavelength. I think we did a very good job of that.”
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“There’s some things that you just don’t find out about each other until you’re under the pump in qualifying or in the race, but I think it’s been really, really good.”
“There’s not been any complaints – just small, little things that we could change, but on the whole, it’s been really good working with Tom.”
McLaren is heading to Monaco next weekend for the next round of the season, with Piastri certainly keen to secure points at the iconic circuit.