For Oscar Piastri and Jack Doohan, their home Grand Prix in Australia on Sunday marks the start of different journeys.
Last year, Piastri helped McLaren become Formula 1 constructors’ champion for the first time since 1998. Now he wants to win the drivers’ title.
“I do think I can become world champion this year,” he said. “I feel 12 months ago I was going into the season with some weaknesses that I wasn’t particularly confident with.
“Through last season I addressed them. It’s now about addressing them every weekend and making sure that I’m putting my best foot forward. That is what is going to be the difference.”
Doohan is one of five rookies this season. After Alpine promoted him from a reserve role, his target is simpler.
“It will be about maximizing every inch of the car, aero, power unit, mechanical, and ensuring that I’m getting everything out of it, and if the car is capable of being in the points positions, then I’m there,” he said.
“It’s also about working correctly with my teammate,” he said, referring to Pierre Gasly, “to get the car as far up the grid as possible and to ensure this goal we all have in mind, of getting the team back to the front, is there.”
Over the winter, Alpine signed a multiyear deal with Franco Colapinto from Williams to be a reserve driver, with the idea of eventually giving him a seat. He impressed Alpine in the final nine Grands Prix last season after replacing Logan Sargeant.
Flavio Briatore, a former team principal of Benetton and Renault who joined Alpine as executive adviser last year, said Colapinto “is among the best young talents in motorsport right now.”
With Colapinto in essence standing by, Doohan is under pressure to perform to keep his seat.
“I’m one of 20 Formula 1 drivers in the world, and I know when I was in karting, Formula 3, Formula 2, I would do anything to be in Formula 1 and sacrifice everything,” said Doohan, the son of the five-time Grand Prix motorcycle racing champion Mick Doohan.
“Whether it’s someone inside the team, outside the team, anyone that’s performing well, you’re always going to have pressure on your shoulders because you’re in such a cutthroat sport.”
Maria Catarineu, who is on Colapinto’s management team, said Briatore was “very persistent” and “very intense” in his pursuit of Colapinto. “He always had Franco on his radar and wanted to have him at all costs,” she said.
Briatore said the arrival of Colapinto in Formula 1 “caught many, me included, by surprise and his performances have been very impressive for a rookie driver.”
He continued, “We have an eye on our future, and his signing means we have a great pool of young drivers to call upon and work with in developing the team for future success.”
Oliver Oakes, the Alpine team principal, said he felt for Doohan, “but I also think he should be given a bit of space for a few rounds.”
“At the end of the day, like every driver, you’ve got to deliver. I think he’s done a really good job of blocking out the noise and just getting on with it.”
Oakes said he saw the pressure on Doohan of the signing of Colapinto differently. “No matter what driver you are, in any category, there’s pressure,” he said. “It doesn’t matter whether that’s in F1 or the junior categories. Because Franco did a good job last year, it’s natural people want to talk about that.
“In terms of whether it’s nice or kind to Jack, he’s driving a Formula 1 car. That’s every boy’s dream, but it’s also his job. For me, it’s pretty simple. We’re here to go racing. We want the best driver in the car, the best engine in the car. We’re starting the season with Jack and Pierre, and then let’s see how it goes.”
Doohan is excited to start the season on home soil. For the first time since 2019, Albert Park in Melbourne is hosting the first round.
“I really enjoy the circuit,” he said. “It’s a tricky one being in parkland, half-street, half-permanent, and it can be quite slippery. I’m hoping we start off on the right foot. A good start to the year lays things out for the rest of it.”
Piastri, who is from Melbourne, starts his third season with McLaren. He said he was glad the opening race of his rookie season in 2023 was not in Australia as “that would have been pretty full on.”
With his experience, he can now cope with the spotlight. “I’m very excited to have the race as the opener,” Piastri said. “Growing up as a kid, that’s how I remember Melbourne. I know the Australian fans are definitely going to be keen as well to see who’s going to have what at the first race.”
Piastri said the Melbourne circuit was more representative than the Bahrain International Circuit of how a car will perform over a season. Bahrain has staged the opening round for the past four seasons.
“For us in the last few years, Bahrain has not been our strongest circuit, but Melbourne has often boded quite well for us,” he said. “It’s got a little bit of everything.
“I would say the tarmac is quite common with other circuits through the rest of the season. It’s quite fresh, quite smooth, whereas Bahrain is very old now and rough. Melbourne is probably a better indicator.”
After winning the constructors’ title last season, McLaren is one of the favorites this year. Piastri, and his teammate Lando Norris, are among the top contenders for the drivers’ championship.
Piastri has an opportunity to make history on Sunday. No Australian driver has been classified in the top three in an Australian Grand Prix in the previous 38 races. Daniel Ricciardo was on the podium in 2014, but was later disqualified.
Piastri won two Grands Prix last year and finished 82 points behind Norris. And Piastri is aware of how to improve this season.
“There were a couple of weekends where I wasn’t as strong as I wanted to be,” he said. “It’s about building up the resilience to adapt a bit quicker over the weekends.
“If a weekend started badly, it was difficult to make the progress towards the front. We’ve gone into a lot of detail on how we can be better prepared for this season, and some of the more specific driving opportunities.”
Qualifying was an area Piastri said he “wanted to work on,” but it was not just “about qualifying better.”
“There are specifics that if I can improve on those, it’ll make everything better,” he said, without adding detail. “Then you get the confidence, and everything naturally helps itself, and those weekends from last season will disappear.”
An element for the drivers and Andrea Stella, the McLaren team principal, to handle will be if Norris and Piastri are contending for the drivers’ title.
“I look forward to this challenge,” Stella said. “It means we are doing well as a team, that the two drivers are doing well, that the car is competitive and we did a good job from a technical and racing point of view.
“In terms of how we will manage that, they start with equal opportunities, and we will lean on our racing principles and very good conversations with our drivers.”
Piastri said he and Norris would be “racing each other hard but fairly.”
“Hopefully, more often than not, it’s fighting for first and second.”
