Oscar Piastri will replace Daniel Ricciardo at the McLaren Formula 1 team in 2023, the team confirmed Friday in a press release.
Piastri said in a statement: “I am extremely excited to make my F1 debut with a prestigious team like McLaren and I am grateful for the opportunity presented to me.
The 21-year-old Australian will team up with Lando Norris and fill the vacancy of compatriot Ricciardo, who ending his McLaren contract soon. Riccio’s future plans have not been confirmed.
2022 McLaren MCL36 Formula One Race Car
Piastri, who is managed by Australian and F1 veteran Mark Webber, has built an impressive resume, winning the 2019 Formula Renault Eurocup championship, the 2020 F3 championship and the 2021 F2 championship.
“Oscar is one of the rising talents through the feeder series into F1 and we are delighted to see him join the team in 2023,” McLaren CEO Zak Brown said in a statement. “Winning both F3 and F2 in consecutive rookie seasons is a real achievement and testament to his talent in single-seat racing.”
2022 McLaren MCL36 Formula One Race Car
In fact, Piastri has a lot of demand. He is Alpine’s reserve driver for the 2021 season and the team has been trying to secure him to fill the vacancy of Fernando Alonso, who heading to Aston Martin in 2023 to replace Sebastian Vettel.
Alpine pre-named Piastri as Alonso’s replacement, prompting the Australian to issue a statement denying that he would be driving for the team. The Alpine seat remains unfilled as of the time of this writing, but the team is likely to get back Ricciardo, who drove for it in 2019 and 2020 under its previous Renault guise.
