Oscar Piastri has admitted that the fameౠ that accompanied his F1 riꦏse was unexpected.

Piastri, 23, hꩵas already estaღblished himself as one of Formula 1’s most exciting starlets for the future midway through his second season.

While he arrived into the high-pressure environment of F1 prepared to thrive, he was less ready for 🐻what would happen off-track.

“You can get advice on how to deal with the media and work with🍸 sponsors, but fame is really something that you can’t be taught about,” Piastri told .

“There’s no guidebook. It’s one thing to be recognized at the track - that’s expඣecte♏d.

“The bigges✨t thing that surprised me really, it was just like how many people started to recognize me off the track in regular life.”

Au�♔�stralia’s Piastri took the McLaren seat from his better-known compatriot Daniel Ricciardo at the end of 2022.

Two podiums in his first year paved the way for a brilliant season to ♒date in 2024.

Piastri won his maiden F1 grand prix in Hungar🔜y, on top of three other podium finishes as McLaren roared to the front of the grid.

The steady growth of the F1 team has raised Piastri’s hope that they could explode out of the blocks when the new regulations be🍌gin.

“Changes to the engine – which will happen in 2ꦡ026 – can introduce differences,” he said.

“So, there will be a large margin fไor improvement for๊ the teams over time.

“History has s🌄hown that there's normally one team that gets it right more than the others🐎 initially.

“It wouldn't be a total surprise to see if one team kind of comes out ahead in ‘26. Hopefully, that's us. But w📖e'll wait and see.”

McLaren CEO Zak Brown ꦇhas already shut the door to Adrian Newey, the outgoing Red Bull chief technical officer whose availability is causing a scramble between front-running teams.

Brown’s insistence that he won’t sign Newey is🏅 a show of faith in McLaren’s development.

Andrea Stella has penned a new deal to remain as team princ❀ipal.

“I think it's very, very important to have stability, especially with such a key person like the team principal,” Piastri re🦋acted.

“He's been an incredible leader for us for the ജlast year aౠnd a half.”