Piastri looking to build on Monaco performance

Oscar Piastri is looking to build on his strong performance in Monaco last weekend when Formula 1 touches down in Spain on Friday.

The Australian qualified ninth on the streets of the principality before surviving difficult wet conditions to record an impressive 10th-place finish.

It was a confidence-building weekend for the McLaren driver, one which saw team boss Andrea Stella heap praise upon him.

“On a personal note after all the practice sessions, I wasn’t very pleased with my driving,” Piastri said of his early performance in Monaco.

“Consistently six-tenths off was not a very nice feeling.

“So then to bring it a lot closer for qualifying and then to end up with a point [in the race], yeah, a very, very positive step forward.

“The race itself was probably the most tricky of the year as well,” he added.

“But these are the weekend where you learn the most, you know, trying to make that jump from practice to quality and also in these conditions – I don’t think it gets too much harder than Monaco in the rain on slicks.”

From the stress of Monaco, F1 heads to Spain, a venue drivers and teams are well acquainted with.

There have been changes to the circuit for this year, with the restoration of the penultimate corner to its original form, replacing the fiddly chicane that was introduced in 2007.

“Looking forward to it,” Piastri said of the weekend ahead.

“A lot of the tracks we’ve been to so far have been either street circuits or new circuits for me.

” Spain is one that, for myself and everyone else, it’s a very familiar track.

“Obviously, the last two corners are a bit different now but the other however many corners on the track are the same.

“So yeah, looking forward to getting back to a bit of a traditional circuit, and seeing what we can do.”