MOTORSPORT – Oscar Piastri is doing what he needs to do to win a first Formula One title, the sport’s most successful driver of all time Lewis Hamilton said yesterday.
Hamilton won the first of his seven championships with McLaren and Australian Piastri has won four of seven races this season for the Woking team to lead teammate Lando Norris by 13 points ahead of this weekend’s Monaco showcase.
Asked what he thought about the 24-year-old, and how hard it was to win a first title, Ferrari driver Hamilton said Piastri was doing a fantastic job in his third season in the sport.
“It’s amazing to see McLaren doing so well, because that’s where I started,” he said.
“And also to see them so close, him and Lando, just these two great drivers.
“The pressure on both of them will be unimaginable, I would say, for most people that are not experiencing it or have not experienced it.
“He (Piastri) has been doing everything you need to do to win a world championship. I don’t have any advice for him. Just to keep doing what he’s doing.”
Piastri won three races in a row – Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Miami – and qualified on pole at Imola last weekend only to miss out on victory after Red Bull’s Max Verstappen seized the lead around the outside through turn one.
The Australian, who also won in China, ended up third with Norris second.
Piastri told reporters separately in the team’s harbourside hospitality that calling Imola a reality check was too harsh but it had been a reminder that not everything would go to plan this season.
“I think maybe the (Red Bull) race pace was a bit of a surprise for us but the fact they were quick through the weekend was not a big surprise,” he said. “So we’ve got to keep working hard.”
Three Australians have won in Monaco – the late triple champion Jack Brabham, Piastri’s now-manager Mark Webber and Daniel Ricciardo.
“There’s quite a lot of Australian history around this place,” observed Piastri. “It would be nice to add another chapter.”
Meanwhile, Verstappen said that Monaco could be a crazy race this year due to drivers having to make a mandatory two stops.
The rule change has been introduced to liven up the show at a tight and twisty circuit that some see as an anachronism, with overtaking extremely difficult, leading to processional racing.
“I guess it can go both ways; it can be quite straightforward, or it can go completely crazy because of safety cars coming into play or not making the right calls,” said Verstappen, a two-times winner of the showcase race.
“I think it will spice it up probably a bit more.
“Normally, with one stop, once you have a good pitstop and everything is fine then you drive to the end and just stay focused and not hit the barrier.
“But maybe with a two-stop, it can create something different – people gambling, guessing when the right time is to box (pit). So hopefully, it will spice it up a bit more.”
Piastri said the change would be welcomed more by those not on pole.
“I still think 90 something per cent about Monaco is qualifying,” the Australian told reporters. “But I think it’s very complicated now with these two stops. Also just using the three sets of tyres.
“It’s not quite as simple as what it was. So it’s definitely going to throw a spanner in the works for everyone,” he said.
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