McLaren driver Oscar Piastri is confident he is in a “strong position” to tackle the final ten rounds of the 2024 season.

The second-year driver made his breakthrough this season, taking his first Grand Prix victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix and three other podium finishes.

Piastri entered the summer break with considerable momentum, having scored more points in the five rounds before the break than any other driver in the championship except Lewis Hamilton.

“I think the last few weeks have definitely been very strong on my part,” Piastri said. “Honestly, I think the whole season has been pretty good.”

“A couple of weekends in the middle of the year were a bit tricky. Japan and China in particular were pretty tough – and of course Barcelona – but I think all the other races were pretty strong. It’s just that in some ways we had a lot of things that didn’t go the way we wanted. Whether it was interesting track limit penalties or crashes or mistakes, there was always something like that and I think I’ve got it under control over the last few weekends.”

After winning a race in Hungary and then finishing second behind Hamilton in the final round of the championship at Spa-Francorchamps, Piastri said he was pleased with the huge improvement in performance in these final two races compared to his rookie year at the same venue.

“I feel like I’ve definitely taken a step forward compared to last year,” he said. “I think these tricky races like this are where I struggled last year.

“I feel like I’ve made good progress and the car is obviously very quick as well, so I feel like I’m getting into a good swing, which is good, but I know how quickly it can turn around and go the other way as well.

“I’m just trying to build on it, but I feel like I’m in a strong place.”

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