The different stories of the three rookies of 2023
This season’s starting grid welcomed a total of three rookies as official drivers of various teams, and all three with different stories: now that we have reached the second half of the 2023 world championship, he has not been seen on the track since the 11th round of the calendar Nyck De Vries, promoted to AlphaTauri in place of Gasly but subsequently abandoned by the Faenza team without any points gained. He is still present in Williams, however, Logan Sargeant, who is also still looking for his first world championships five races after the end of the world championship. The third case, decidedly more surprising and which can on the contrary boast very respectable results, is that of Oscar Piastri.
Rookie results
Having moved to McLaren after a long legal battle with Alpine between 2022 and 2023, the 22-year-old Australian highlighted his talent by winning a total of three podiums (two of them consecutive and not in Sprint races) and also obtaining a surprising one pole position in Qatar, albeit in the Sprint Shootout. A series of results, together with other placings in the points and at a pace sometimes superior to that of his more experienced teammate Lando Norris, which pushed McLaren to ‘lock him down’ until 2026 with the signing of a new contract.
The qualities of Piastri according to Webber
The one who believed in the potential of the F3 and F2 champion in 2020 and 2021 was above all Mark Webber, Piastri’s compatriot and above all his manager. Already during the last weekend in Qatar, the former Red Bull driver indicated what, in his opinion, are the greatest qualities of the talent born in 2001: “I think it’s his adaptability – he commented in an interview with gpblog.com – it is very versatile. As we know, he is a rookie, and there have been many wet weekends this year. There were a lot of disruptions, tire assignments and sprint races, so there are a lot of things to get used to, but in the end it proved to be very strong on the road circuits too. Maybe we still have some work to do in the race, but qualifying was a good step forward. I think he can adapt, to be cold and also, of course, to be ready to continue improve every day. It’s a natural thing.”.
Can he win the title?
Also aiding the growth of the young Australian was McLaren’s great leap in quality during the current season, with the Woking company managing to redeem itself from a difficult start by achieving podiums and notable results. Regardless of this positive change, for Webber the choice of McLaren was still the right one for Piastri: “I think it really was the only choice we had – he added – last year it wasn’t too comforting for us to know what was going on in terms of where he might end up and I was extremely nervous and frustrated that he didn’t race last year. We realized what we were missing, and having a guy like him watching was a total travesty and it killed me inside.”. However, there is a great curiosity to which Webber responded with caution: could Piastri become world champion? “Everyone loves to talk about the new drivers coming in and the honeymoon period – he concluded – but I think in the end he is showing some excellent qualities. Of course, it takes a little luck and growth, but we can do this interview in 15 years and see how it went. Let’s see, first the small steps. But the momentum is there.”
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