Oscar Piastri has explained the positives he was able to take from getting a headstart with McLaren at the 2022 post-season test in Abu Dhabi. It was confirmed in September that the Australian would make his debut with the team in 2023 following a much-publicised dispute over his services with Alpine, who Piastri had previously acted as a reserve driver for in 2022. The case was taken to the FIA's Contract Recognition Board and ruled in McLaren's favour, meaning that Piastri will race for the outfit alongside Lando Norris. In November, the Woking-based squad revealed that Alpine had granted an early release of Piastri to allow the youngster to test for his new team. After the test day at the end of 2022, Piastri admitted that having this experience was an important part of his preparations for the 2023 season.
Piastri reveals focus of preparations for 2023
"It's really, really positive for me," Piastri told media, including RacingNews365.com , when asked about getting a 'headstart' at the test. "I think driving the car [in the test] was the most positive thing. Obviously, you can't substitute anything for track time, so I think having [this experience] especially was really important and a really positive thing to have. "[It gave me the chance to be] able to work on the peripherals, and get to know my engineers better and [get to know] everyone in the team better. "If there's a few things that I want to change for next year, I can talk to people about that. I'm quite looking forward to being able to design some of my own little things if I want to. "All that background stuff that doesn't necessarily get seen, that's all stuff I can work on in the [weeks ahead of the season]."
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