McLaren driver Oscar Piastri has already been tempering expectations heading into the Bahrain Grand Prix and admits finishing on the podium on Saturday will be difficult.
The young Australian is entering his second season in Formula 1 and will be hoping to push teammate Lando Norris even harder this year,
Speaking ahead of free practice, via the Formula 1 website, Piastri shared what his expectations are for the opening race of the season.
Piastri says podium finish unlikely in Bahrain
McLaren were the surprise package last season after such a poor start, regularly finding themselves on the podium towards the back end of the year.
All eyes were on whether they could continue that trajectory over the winter which would have likely put them ahead of Mercedes and Ferrari.
However, while they may have made small steps forward, they don’t appear to be the best of the rest behind Red Bull.
Oscar Piastri has downplayed McLaren’s chance of scoring a podium in Bahrain, but this shouldn’t be a cause for concern for the team’s fans.
They’ve never been exceptional at the track in Sakhir, failing to win a single race in the 20 years it’s been running.
It will be much easier to judge where McLaren are compared to their rivals when the paddock heads to Saudi Arabia and Piastri’s hometown race in Melbourne.
McLaren setting low expectations ahead of 2024’s opening race
Speaking to the media ahead of Saturday’s race, Piastri said: “[The car is] pretty familiar from last year, which you’d expect with stable regs and similar tyres. I think we are in a decent place. Of course, we want to make it fast first and easy to drive second.
“Hopefully definitely points, a podium will be difficult I think… Red Bull look very quick, Ferrari look strong, Mercedes no one really knows but they’ll be there, Aston look good… It’s going to be a pretty tight battle again, just as it was at the end of last season.”
It would be hard to look past Max Verstappen winning Saturday’s race unless you’re Damon Hill who is hoping for a more surprising result.
If Piastri could find his way onto the podium in Bahrain then suddenly McLaren fans will be getting really excited.
Andrea Stella and Zak Brown will be aiming for both of their drivers to earn their first Grand Prix wins this year, with Piastri hoping to add to his Sprint Race victory in Qatar.
There will be tracks on the calendar later on in the year that suit them much better than Sakhir.
They have to capitalise on those opportunities and try and find a way past an unstoppable Red Bull car.
The post ‘Will be difficult’: 22-year-old driver admits he’s very unlikely to finish on the podium at Bahrain GP appeared first on F1 Oversteer.