Oscar Piastri remains optimistic despite being outperformed by his teammate Lando Norris, who is currently McLaren's top driver in 2024.
Norris is increasingly viewed as a serious contender for this year's driver's championship, potentially rivaling Red Bull's Max Verstappen, while Piastri, in only his second Formula 1 season, trails further behind.
"You need setbacks and dips to improve," Piastri, aged 23, expressed to Dutch broadcaster NOS.
"To peak, you have to learn from the valleys. That takes time, but I'm competing against very experienced drivers," he continued.
"Lando is 24 and therefore one of the youngest, but he already has five years of experience in F1."
Norris has been competing closely with Verstappen, Red Bull's three-time world champion, and Piastri is confident he too can reach such heights.
"I haven't come across him (Verstappen) much on the track, because he is so dominant," Piastri noted. "I know that he fights hard, but I do not shy away from that."
"I want to beat everyone," Piastri, managed by fellow Australian Mark Webber, declared. "Max still knows very little about me, and that can be an advantage for me."
Piastri also finds reasons for positivity in how swiftly McLaren has reasserted itself as a top-tier team. "We wanted to close the gap with Red Bull, but we were aiming for the end of the season," Piastri revealed.
"Especially in the slow corners, we have gained a lot of ground. Red Bull seem less effective on slower circuits with a lot of kerbs and bumps," he explained.
"But there is currently no circuit where we are performing poorly. And it's helping us at the moment that (Sergio) Perez is scoring so poorly. It means Max has to do it on his own. So it certainly helps us that we have two cars at the front," Piastri concluded.
