Piastri: It’s always nice when people talk well about you

At the recent FIA gala ceremony, Oscar Piastri was named best rookie of the year, and that is no coincidence. Australian debutant McLaren had a great time in his debut season in Formula 1, standing on the podium twice, winning the sprint in the Qatar stage and finishing the championship in 9th place in the individual standings.

In an interview with the championship’s official website, Oscar summarized the results of the season…

“A lot of self-confidence has to do with results, and whether that’s good or bad is another matter,” Piastri said. “I think sometimes it’s enough to show a good result once, after which you start to believe that you can do it.” But personally I always try to look less at the results and analyze for myself how my company is doing and how I am piloting.

Directly in Formula 1 you can only compare yourself to your partner, and Lando Norris sets very good benchmarks. Initially this gave me confidence, and later, as the year progressed, it also gave me my results. But also just knowing that I can compete with all these guys on an equal footing – all of this helps build confidence as well.

I tried to contain this attitude somehow, but before the start of the season expectations were very high. But I also wanted to show myself and try to repeat what I did in the youth categories.”

The turning point of the season for Oscar was the British round at Silverstone, when he almost reached the podium but finished fourth and already felt the support of the fans.

“I would say I definitely felt the love from the crowd that weekend,” said the McLaren driver. – Definitely, it was one of those weekends where everything worked for me – there were a maximum of two such weekends in the season. I was very satisfied. It’s also our team’s home race, so the British crowd was very positive.

Lando and I performed well that weekend, which was appreciated by both the fans and the press, although I can’t say I pay special attention to what they write about me. But I think it’s always nice when people talk well about you. But early in my career I learned to deliberately ignore all that.

I moved to the UK at a fairly young age and had to make some big decisions on my own to pursue my dream of becoming a Formula 1 driver. I probably learned much earlier than others.

Although of course now there are so many races that you can only take out a day or two, although previously the breaks lasted weeks. We had to adapt to this somehow. But I think it’s really important to be able to switch off because if you get stuck at work, it won’t help your business.

Our work involves extreme pressure, we are the center of attention. At the same time, I am one of twenty drivers in the world who were given the opportunity to compete in Formula 1. If I hadn’t succeeded, I would have been much less happy. We must always remember that there is an element of fun in our profession: we all got into motorsport because we enjoy it.

It seems to me that the atmosphere at McLaren is quite comfortable. Lando and I still have a few years left as partners, which is great. I feel part of the team and look forward to continuing to work with them in the future. When we talk about 2024, my mood is calmly optimistic. McLaren is gaining momentum, everything is going well, although you never know what their rivals will prepare for the next season. But let’s hope the development continues.”