Piastri is grateful to Ricciardo: 'He stood by me'

Oscar Piastri will debut alongside Lando Norris at McLaren this year. The Australian came to this spot after a long fight in 2022 that saw his compatriot Daniel Ricciardo lose out. Piastri says the two do not blame each other and that there was a good contact.

Whereas the contact between McLaren and Alpine was miserable, it went well between two of the protagonists in the Piastri story. Ricciardo was harshly sidelined by McLaren in 2022. The team broke the contract in order to bring in the talented Piastri. Alpine, the team that trained Piastri, vehemently opposed the contracting by McLaren.

Ricciardo and Piastri can get through a door

McLaren won the battle for Piastri, making Ricciardo the biggest loser; the eight-time GP winner is third driver at Red Bull Racing this year. Despite the unpleasantness of the driver change, Ricciardo does not blame his younger compatriot. So says Piastri to the Australian ABC. There was not much contact between the two, but Piastri says he is grateful for the way Ricciardo took it.

"We got in touch through texts I guess once everything had unfolded last year and he was very supportive of me both personally and on the media front as well, he’s been very supportive of me which I’m very thankful for."