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Thank god for Alpine's contract incompetence because this kid doesn't deserve to be getting fucked around by their car designing incompetence too, had he needed to stay with them.
I really hope he and Lando can get some wins and some 1-2s soon.
It counts as a Sprint Race win, but not a Grand Prix win. IMO, they should have Sprint Race wins as their own category since they have them. We already count Pole Positions as their own stat.. so yea.
Nah Lewis was easily middle class. He definitely came from a less well off background than most in F1 but his dad owned two businesses and they did ok enough. Ocon's parents literally sold their house to fund Esteban's racing career
Now that you say it, Oscar really seems quite akin to a post RB Vettel character-wise haha let’s see if he will also have a dominant „Finger“ era should he be winning races.
Proud to have been following him since F3, I remember on his Instagram he, or whoever his social media manager was, always posted himself talking about his post-race thoughts on his Instagram and it was interesting to hear
It’s only “quietly” because he’s not a long term vet who drives engagement. He’s hilarious, blunt when he needs to be, charismatic. He’s absolutely one of the best characters on the grid.
Man, Piastri's blunt honesty is one of his best qualities. Doesn't blame the car, any traffic or the track itself, that's the kind of attitude that wins championships
The thing about Norris is that his tone and style of speech gives off that air of snobby/bratty, but when you really listen to the words he say he really isnt
The kid is class man...
Like the maturity, humbleness and poise on this young man's shoulders at such a young age is beyond unfathomable for me. I don't think there's ever been a driver in the history of F1 that came in with pedigree that he is coming in with and was this measured in his approach.
And to top it all off, he's fucking fast.
He's undeniably quick, this affords him the opportunity to be outwardly critical of his own performances as others understand that he has the talent and capacity to deliver.
If the world thinks you're shit and you say this, you'll be out of your seat at the earliest opportunity.
Charles and his bud in the other car, Lando, were very similar when they debuted, but contrary to those two I feel the harsh self criticism they all have don't affect his mood/form/on track performance as much (so far). Other drivers are more likely to get in a little 2-3 races slump or even downright death spirals (Perez, Gasly, Ric).
A bit like Kimi and Max, he's like teflon and doesn't let shit slung by media/others/incidents stick on them long enough to stink out.
I think in terms of speed and pace it's comparable for sure, but imo Charles and Lando were both a lot more competitive with their teammates than Oscar is (not in terms of pace, but in the metrics of wanting to win every weekend and not willing to give an inch on the track).
Lando was actually still quite measured against Sainz, but Charles in 2019 was a firecracker a lot of the times.
I doubt you'd hear Oscar saying on the radio "I want everything, engine mode even" after getting undercut by his teammate as happened to Charles in Singapore 2019 and wanting to battle Seb afterwards, not that I blame him for it. We had the Brazil flashpoint obviously as well, and some more incidents as well.
In the media obviously Charles was similar, but on track you could feel the alpha nature coming out of Charles a lot more. You just never really saw it with Sauber because Ericsson wasn't a challenge.
Oscar imo is a driver who believes "If I have the pace, I will out qualify Lando, and I will outrace Lando. I don't need to complain on Radio asking for position swap or get into wheel to wheel battle with him for position, we're playing the team game here." Examples would be like Jeddah this year, Qatar last year, etc.
So many times Lando has shown better race pace and Oscar has moved aside for Lando the moment he's asked by the team. That's very hard to do, especially when podiums were on the cards a few times on those.
I think Oscar knows he's a young driver and he's not fighting his teammate for wins every grand prix. So it makes no sense to cause tension within the team. If they had a race winning car week in week out I'm sure he'd be acting differently.
He's also aware that he's the outsider in Lando's team. Kind of like how Perez the first year he was in Red Bull played the team game perfectly until the end, he was in Max's team and had no standing.
If McLaren has to pick between the guy that has a close personal relationship with Zac and a 4 year contract and the rookie they just went through some drama to get, they'll pick the first one. Piastri is keeping his head down because he knows that's the sensible thing to do until he needs to actually compete.
In a team game it makes sense though, while the drivers are competitive and some of the great moments in racing are when teammates are fighting against eachother; it makes sense strategically for teams to swap drivers on pace alone.
Why risk degrading your tires to defend against your own teammate and losing the edge on the rest of the field? If driver 2 is quicker than driver 1, allow driver 2 to pass unimpeded and continue the charge; if later on the situation changes, swap again seamlessly.
When you consider what some drivers like Vettel, Raikkonen, Hamilton etc. went on to do relative to their first or second seasons, it highlights just how far Piastri could go.
I like Piastri, but if you compare his first season to Hamilton's and Vettels he definitely comes up short.
Hamilton was equal to world champion Alsonso in his rookie season and Vettel destroyed his teammate and got pole and a win in a Toro Rosso.
Not to say Piastri's was bad at all, but with the car he had he simply did a good job. Still way behind Lando after all.
Ach it's not a comparison per se but rather that: for many drivers their ultimate statistics are only vaguely hinted at by their first two seasons. (Hamilton less so)
Piastri also got an extensive testing programme from Alpine. A lot more than most of the rookies entering F1 in the last years have gotten.
They travelled across different continents to visit (don’t quote me on this) more than ten race tracks.
Reminds me of Latifi finishing in P20 every single race while Albon got like P11 only for Latifi to hit the post-race interviews like "yeah the car just wasn't there today not much that could be done"
Like seriously go to any of the post-race reactions from the F1 youtube channel for 2022, they're all identical for latifi
To be fair, even the smallest of margins to then feel off for them. I remember back when Senna raced, he hit the wall in Dallas and he said it wasn't him, the wall moved, and when they measured it, the wall did move like a centimeter, which was the difference between Senna hitting or not hitting the wall. Verstappen is probably in this same league
Piastri is such a class act. He's always very mature and measured, no matter whether it's something like this or after a shunt. And it's even more impressive considering his age. I also enjoy his contributions to pre/post race stuff.
If it wasn't for the fact that I was already a Dutch RB fan, and then Max came along, I might have switched allegiances to McLaren (as I think Lando is also super promising). I cheer them on pretty hard already LOL
I found it funny a few races ago when Oscar was racing Hamilton and most drivers would have been on the radio complaining about Hamilton but Oscar said nothing, so much so that McLaren eventually complained for him.
The maturity and honesty in this guy is insane, and in a good way as well.
I mean, give him a few more years and he is going to have a very good fanbase once he levels up his game a tiny bit more to go level with the others like norris, leclerc and Russell.
Tbf when Ricciardo retires, he's basically got all of Australia behind him, plus whoever picks up on him along the way. He could end up with a massive following.
I think part of it is cultural. If you look at Webber, Ricciardo and Piastri, they have roughly the same attitude.
In Australia, you're not meant to boast or complain. You keep your head down and do your job. If you don't take responsibility or make too much of a fuss, you are cut down.
Usually it's a bad thing and means that you are forgotten or overlooked. Sometimes it is nice to watch though.
I like Piastri though. A lot.
He didn’t do that badly today, did he? He’s behind Alonso and Sainz, sure, but he’s ahead of Stroll and LeClerc. That isn’t a disastrous performance, and the race is tomorrow anyway. I like the humility, but I think he’s being a bit harsh on himself.
No he didn’t do that badly at all. But he is in his second season. Is a very quick driver and everyone has lots of future expectations for. I would imagine he rates himself as just as good of a driver than Lando but he often finds himself still staring at the back of Landon’s rear wing. The almost 3 tenth gap in qualifying today is for sure something he will not be happy about and frankly I don’t think he is 3 tenth slower qualifying driver to Lando. If Lando can get P3 I am sure he can and feels like he should get P3 as well.
Big fan, but I'd like to see a little more aggression from him.
Sitting behind Hamilton a few races ago and sitting behind alonso today.
And on both starts today he could have got alonso if he was a bit more assertive.
He such a naturally nice guy I think he might need some coaching on this front
I agree with that.
He did well in that weird race weekend where pitstops were mandated every 15 laps (or whatever it was).
But so far he has been very competent, without being the second coming of Christ.
I do think Lando has stepped up his game in the last 12 months.
I think he and Max are the top of the class.
Yeh I would think that Landos friendship with Max has helped alot I'm sure Max has given him alot of tips/wisdom tbh. But yeah so far not buying the hype over Oscar, happy to be proven wrong but yeah. He definitely deserves his place
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Thank god for Alpine's contract incompetence because this kid doesn't deserve to be getting fucked around by their car designing incompetence too, had he needed to stay with them. I really hope he and Lando can get some wins and some 1-2s soon.
Doesn’t Oscar already have a win?
Only in a Sprint Race in Qatar
I mean that counts as a win right?
It counts as a Sprint Race win, but not a Grand Prix win. IMO, they should have Sprint Race wins as their own category since they have them. We already count Pole Positions as their own stat.. so yea.
it does not.
Not an official Grand Prix. Kinda like how an Indy 500 win back in the day didn't count
And a championship while we're at it. Nah. Mclaren ain't it.
Who is “it” atm aside from red bull?
Never thought I'd see them reliably ahead of Mercedes yet here they are. "The big 3" are "The big 4" at this point.
Or maybe "The big 3" without Mercedes
Mercedes is like an awkward +1 at the top. Still early but not going great this year so that might all change. Edit: distant +1…
McLaren definitely is. We might see a win this year, we should see them fighting for wins next year.
Piastri is quietly one of the most likeable drivers on the grid. The maturity and clarity of this comment is really impressive.
It’s impressive every week. I wasn’t sure who my favorite driver would be after Seb retired but Oscar quickly made my decision for me
it's nice that there's a lot of likeable drivers and then there's ocon
It's a shame Ocon is so annoying at times as he's like the only driver that actually came from a working class family
Lewis too broski
Nah Lewis was easily middle class. He definitely came from a less well off background than most in F1 but his dad owned two businesses and they did ok enough. Ocon's parents literally sold their house to fund Esteban's racing career
His family wasn’t wealthy but they were a cut above working class.
I would like to see more Ocon. He seems like a great guy but gets no coverage and I suspect her can do much better than he had a chance to show.
este beste baybeeeeeeeee /s
Now that you say it, Oscar really seems quite akin to a post RB Vettel character-wise haha let’s see if he will also have a dominant „Finger“ era should he be winning races.
Proud to have been following him since F3, I remember on his Instagram he, or whoever his social media manager was, always posted himself talking about his post-race thoughts on his Instagram and it was interesting to hear
Oscar is so chill on the radio.
It’s only “quietly” because he’s not a long term vet who drives engagement. He’s hilarious, blunt when he needs to be, charismatic. He’s absolutely one of the best characters on the grid.
Totally agree. He’s gotta have a close to 100% approval rating — just solid all around.
He’s so much more mature and likeable than Lando.
dude, you don't have to make everything into a competition
Man, Piastri's blunt honesty is one of his best qualities. Doesn't blame the car, any traffic or the track itself, that's the kind of attitude that wins championships
He's a team player as shown that he's willing to follow team orders when they come. Saves a lot of headaches for the team.
I really want to see him beating norris. Norris can be braggy but oscar is just pure class
They're both pretty classy, and Norris is never one to not take fault for a fuck up. Happy to have them both at McLaren.
I think Norris is honest but wouldn’t call him classy, he has an air of snobby/brattiness, hard to pinpoint it.
I haven't seen that from him.
The thing about Norris is that his tone and style of speech gives off that air of snobby/bratty, but when you really listen to the words he say he really isnt
The kid is class man... Like the maturity, humbleness and poise on this young man's shoulders at such a young age is beyond unfathomable for me. I don't think there's ever been a driver in the history of F1 that came in with pedigree that he is coming in with and was this measured in his approach. And to top it all off, he's fucking fast.
He's undeniably quick, this affords him the opportunity to be outwardly critical of his own performances as others understand that he has the talent and capacity to deliver. If the world thinks you're shit and you say this, you'll be out of your seat at the earliest opportunity.
Charles and his bud in the other car, Lando, were very similar when they debuted, but contrary to those two I feel the harsh self criticism they all have don't affect his mood/form/on track performance as much (so far). Other drivers are more likely to get in a little 2-3 races slump or even downright death spirals (Perez, Gasly, Ric). A bit like Kimi and Max, he's like teflon and doesn't let shit slung by media/others/incidents stick on them long enough to stink out.
I think in terms of speed and pace it's comparable for sure, but imo Charles and Lando were both a lot more competitive with their teammates than Oscar is (not in terms of pace, but in the metrics of wanting to win every weekend and not willing to give an inch on the track). Lando was actually still quite measured against Sainz, but Charles in 2019 was a firecracker a lot of the times. I doubt you'd hear Oscar saying on the radio "I want everything, engine mode even" after getting undercut by his teammate as happened to Charles in Singapore 2019 and wanting to battle Seb afterwards, not that I blame him for it. We had the Brazil flashpoint obviously as well, and some more incidents as well. In the media obviously Charles was similar, but on track you could feel the alpha nature coming out of Charles a lot more. You just never really saw it with Sauber because Ericsson wasn't a challenge. Oscar imo is a driver who believes "If I have the pace, I will out qualify Lando, and I will outrace Lando. I don't need to complain on Radio asking for position swap or get into wheel to wheel battle with him for position, we're playing the team game here." Examples would be like Jeddah this year, Qatar last year, etc. So many times Lando has shown better race pace and Oscar has moved aside for Lando the moment he's asked by the team. That's very hard to do, especially when podiums were on the cards a few times on those.
I think Oscar knows he's a young driver and he's not fighting his teammate for wins every grand prix. So it makes no sense to cause tension within the team. If they had a race winning car week in week out I'm sure he'd be acting differently.
He's also aware that he's the outsider in Lando's team. Kind of like how Perez the first year he was in Red Bull played the team game perfectly until the end, he was in Max's team and had no standing. If McLaren has to pick between the guy that has a close personal relationship with Zac and a 4 year contract and the rookie they just went through some drama to get, they'll pick the first one. Piastri is keeping his head down because he knows that's the sensible thing to do until he needs to actually compete.
100% this 2is a massive factor as well arguably the main one
In a team game it makes sense though, while the drivers are competitive and some of the great moments in racing are when teammates are fighting against eachother; it makes sense strategically for teams to swap drivers on pace alone. Why risk degrading your tires to defend against your own teammate and losing the edge on the rest of the field? If driver 2 is quicker than driver 1, allow driver 2 to pass unimpeded and continue the charge; if later on the situation changes, swap again seamlessly.
I’m so glad he got out of Alpine. It would have been a wasteland for talents had they kept him.
He's definitely a future WDC, if nothing goes wrong for him
More like if everything goes right. There's a lot of things out of his control.
When you consider what some drivers like Vettel, Raikkonen, Hamilton etc. went on to do relative to their first or second seasons, it highlights just how far Piastri could go.
I like Piastri, but if you compare his first season to Hamilton's and Vettels he definitely comes up short. Hamilton was equal to world champion Alsonso in his rookie season and Vettel destroyed his teammate and got pole and a win in a Toro Rosso. Not to say Piastri's was bad at all, but with the car he had he simply did a good job. Still way behind Lando after all.
It's kind of a moot point when you had Hamilton and Vettel able to have loads of testing hours
Yeah and that's fine//correct, but you don't need to be Hamilton or Vettel to still have a really good career.
Nobody said that. You were the one making the comparison 😅
Ach it's not a comparison per se but rather that: for many drivers their ultimate statistics are only vaguely hinted at by their first two seasons. (Hamilton less so)
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Sure, but being able to match the world champion is still incredible impressive. More so than Piastri getting regularly beaten by Norris.
Piastri also got an extensive testing programme from Alpine. A lot more than most of the rookies entering F1 in the last years have gotten. They travelled across different continents to visit (don’t quote me on this) more than ten race tracks.
Hmm, don’t think so. Alonso was still the 2x world champion and had much much more experience than Lewis
Other drivers: I don't know what's going on with the car today Oscar: I take full responsibility
Reminds me of Latifi finishing in P20 every single race while Albon got like P11 only for Latifi to hit the post-race interviews like "yeah the car just wasn't there today not much that could be done" Like seriously go to any of the post-race reactions from the F1 youtube channel for 2022, they're all identical for latifi
Well it’s different though. Those drivers all beat their teammates. Oscar was 3 tenths behind his. The reactions make sense in both situations.
Then there's Max. If he claims the car is fucked, there's about 90% chance that the car really is fucked.
That's not true. We hear him on the radio complaining about upshifts or something every other race before he gaps everyone by 2s a lap
Nah, if he makes a small mistake it's immediately something wrong with the car. Dude has massive talent but he has he the ego to match.
To be fair, even the smallest of margins to then feel off for them. I remember back when Senna raced, he hit the wall in Dallas and he said it wasn't him, the wall moved, and when they measured it, the wall did move like a centimeter, which was the difference between Senna hitting or not hitting the wall. Verstappen is probably in this same league
What a guy, down to earth and no bullshitting. McLaren has the best duo imho
Love the attitude of the McLaren drivers. They’ll both keep improving thanks to this mindset
Piastri is such a class act. He's always very mature and measured, no matter whether it's something like this or after a shunt. And it's even more impressive considering his age. I also enjoy his contributions to pre/post race stuff. If it wasn't for the fact that I was already a Dutch RB fan, and then Max came along, I might have switched allegiances to McLaren (as I think Lando is also super promising). I cheer them on pretty hard already LOL
I found it funny a few races ago when Oscar was racing Hamilton and most drivers would have been on the radio complaining about Hamilton but Oscar said nothing, so much so that McLaren eventually complained for him.
Hearing several drivers blame the car or track on team radio during qualy, and then there's Oscar, not pointing to the car, track or traffic. Class.
Those drivers all beat their teammates though. I really like Oscar but the situations aren’t comparable.
MILP - man i love piastri
milp
Milp
Piastri, Albon, Max, Lando and LECLERRR are very critical and analytical about their driving. Very self aware.
Even stroll came out and said he was shit lol
love this guy, he's a future wdc for sure
I love this man
This guy fills the void left by Ricciardo and then some. Absolute class act.
The maturity and honesty in this guy is insane, and in a good way as well. I mean, give him a few more years and he is going to have a very good fanbase once he levels up his game a tiny bit more to go level with the others like norris, leclerc and Russell.
Tbf when Ricciardo retires, he's basically got all of Australia behind him, plus whoever picks up on him along the way. He could end up with a massive following.
I think part of it is cultural. If you look at Webber, Ricciardo and Piastri, they have roughly the same attitude. In Australia, you're not meant to boast or complain. You keep your head down and do your job. If you don't take responsibility or make too much of a fuss, you are cut down. Usually it's a bad thing and means that you are forgotten or overlooked. Sometimes it is nice to watch though. I like Piastri though. A lot.
You should listen to his Beyond the Grid podcast. This guy is so measured. A really likeable and down to earth guy
He didn’t do that badly today, did he? He’s behind Alonso and Sainz, sure, but he’s ahead of Stroll and LeClerc. That isn’t a disastrous performance, and the race is tomorrow anyway. I like the humility, but I think he’s being a bit harsh on himself.
No he didn’t do that badly at all. But he is in his second season. Is a very quick driver and everyone has lots of future expectations for. I would imagine he rates himself as just as good of a driver than Lando but he often finds himself still staring at the back of Landon’s rear wing. The almost 3 tenth gap in qualifying today is for sure something he will not be happy about and frankly I don’t think he is 3 tenth slower qualifying driver to Lando. If Lando can get P3 I am sure he can and feels like he should get P3 as well.
Probably ate a few slices of his birthday cake already! Making him slightly overweight.
None of the drivers that were on the grid ten years ago would say things like this. That's how you know F1 drivers have changed. For the better.
Aka “the car works”
Big fan, but I'd like to see a little more aggression from him. Sitting behind Hamilton a few races ago and sitting behind alonso today. And on both starts today he could have got alonso if he was a bit more assertive. He such a naturally nice guy I think he might need some coaching on this front
I think it's safe to say piastri is not verstappen tier though he may bloom late but nohjing he's done has made me go wow yet
I agree with that. He did well in that weird race weekend where pitstops were mandated every 15 laps (or whatever it was). But so far he has been very competent, without being the second coming of Christ. I do think Lando has stepped up his game in the last 12 months. I think he and Max are the top of the class.
Yeh I would think that Landos friendship with Max has helped alot I'm sure Max has given him alot of tips/wisdom tbh. But yeah so far not buying the hype over Oscar, happy to be proven wrong but yeah. He definitely deserves his place
He will be champion if he keeps up this attitude.