Oscar Piastri believes he has received a confidence boost from his first few Formula 1 races, after McLaren turned around their fortunes. The team suffered a poor start at a time when they were celebrating their 60th anniversary, with Piastri having to retire from his first race due to a hydraulic issue. But their form slowly improved and updates brought to the Austrian and British Grands Prix enabled them to be a genuine podium contender, with them now firmly in the battle alongside Mercedes, Ferrari and Aston Martin. Piastri reflects on the first half of his season having brought in a decent points haul when speaking to media, including RacingNews365 : "I've tried to keep the same approach for the whole year. "Even when we were struggling towards the back versus being at the front now. The motivation gets a boost when you're fighting for trophies, but the hard work and the way of going about things is still the same. "Trying to get the most out of the car and out of myself. That's no different whether you're fighting for third or 15th. It's just the prize you get at the end is a bit nicer."
Norris: Pleasant surprise to be fighting for podiums
Piastri believes the team's turn-around has been important in his debut season, after arriving on the grid to a lot of anticipation. "There was a few points in the season where I thought getting points would be good. So it's a very pleasant surprise to be fighting for podiums now," he added. "To be able to do it on merit in the couple of different tracks with different conditions now is a massive confidence boost."
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