"He's a good foil for Lando" - McLaren's driver lineup impresses Damon Hill

Former F1 world champion Damon Hill recently praised McLaren rookie Oscar Piastri for how he has been performing in F1 so far. The Australian replaced Daniel Ricciardo in the team for the 2023 F1 season. Though the orange British team has taken a huge step back from 2022, the youngster is still able to squeeze in as much performance as possible from the MCL60.

Speaking on the Sky Sports F1 podcast, Hill lauded Oscar Piastri for his performances in Saudi Arabia and Australia, despite all the difficulties he and his team are facing. Hill also explained how he would be a good competitor for Lando Norris, compared to Daniel Ricciardo, who was unable to challenge him. He said:

"I think he's done a solid job the whole way through, actually, all three races. I think, given the difficulties in the first one in Bahrain, I think he's kept his head, and shows a lot of promise, and he's a good foil for Lando now. So Lando's got to work a bit, maybe. So the pair of them are going to be a formidable lineup."

Later on, Damon Hill expressed his concern about whether the youngster will soon be demotivated after seeing McLaren not perform at a high level or whether he will continue to push through the tough times. The good news is that the orange team has made some drastic changes to their system and personnel to turn their fortunes around. He concluded:

"The question is whether you get demotivated being in a team that seems to be all at sea. I don't think they will, I think they still have faith in McLaren to come good. As Simon just said, they have at least done something about the system, which may bring about or unlock some things that were locked in a cupboard somewhere. We'll see."

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Andrea Stella sheds light on the restructuring process inside McLaren

Andrea Stella recently spoke about how the restructuring in personnel at McLaren is part of the team's vision to bounce back and become a top team. He explained how they will try to touch all aspects of the structure and grab any and all opportunities that come up.

He has been quoted as saying by Motorsport Italy:

"Regarding the restructuring, it should be seen as part of the team's innovative vision that will touch all aspects of the structure, the goal is for all opportunities to be capitalized on, it is a first step and we will continue to work on that."

McLaren recently saw its former technical director, James Key, leave the team, with former Ferrari engineer David Sanchez replacing him as the new technical director. He will be working with other technical directors like Peter Prodromou and Neil Houldey and will directly report to Andrea Stella regarding all the development and progress made on the MCL60.