Oscar Piastri is relishing the 'special feeling' of being the only Australian on the Formula 1 grid this season, but conceded it may take him a while to get up to speed with his competitors.

The 21-year-old has replaced Daniel Ricciardo at McLaren after spending last season as the reserve driver for Alpine. 

With his compatriot failing to land a seat after parting ways with the Woking team and returning to Red Bull as reserve driver, Piastri will be tasked with flying the Australian flag in the world championship in 2023.

Not that the youngster appears to be fazed by the prospect.

'It is nice to be the next Aussie into F1, there is usually only one of us at a time, so to be the Aussie on the grid now is a special feeling,' Piastri said on Tuesday at the launch of McLaren's car for the 2023 season.

'There is a big sense of pride being the only Aussie on the grid, but that’s not to say that I wouldn’t enjoy having fellow Aussies on the grid there, too.

'Looking back on the past […] Alan Jones and Sir Jack are two greats of Australian motorsport and Mark, obviously there is a personal connection there being my manager, and obviously Daniel with his race wins, too.

'I want to be the next Aussie who has got success in the sport […] it is an inspiration for me to do my country proud.'

A world champion in Formula 2 and Formula 3 in 2020 and 2021, Piastri has long been considered one of Formula 1's rising stars. 

But in his role as Alpine test driver last year he saw very little action and he hasn't competed in an official race for 18 months.

The young Aussie conceded the lengthy lay-off had not been ideal preparation, but insisted he was hopeful to shake off any 'rust' when pre-season testing begins in Bahrain next week.

'Obviously as a racing driver I want to be racing all the time, so having the year without racing was obviously not ideal,' he said. 

'But I think I tried to make the most of what I had last year and tried to learn as much as I could about the F1 environment outside of driving.'

Speaking on the Beyond the Grid podcast last month, Ricciardo urged Piastri to absorb as much information as he can but warned him to keep expectations in check in his rookie season.

And Piastri acknowledged there were no set targets ahead of his debut campaign in Formula 1.

'In terms of results (this year) there are not really any set expectations,' he said. 

'I am going to try to learn as much as I can and get up to speed as quickly as I can, [but] there is going to be an element of rust there in the beginning having not raced for a while now.'

The Formula 1 season begins on March 5 in Bahrain, followed by the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on March 19 and the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne two weeks later.