McLaren and Oscar Piastri join race to protect the Great Barrier Reef
Aussie F1 gun Oscar Piastri and the McLaren team have formed an unexpected alliance in a new race. Watch his video message.
Environment
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Fresh from his strong showing at the Melbourne Formula One Grand Prix, Oscar Piastri has been spotted on the Whitsundays – but if you think the 22-year-old is mini-breaking before next weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix, think again.
The Aussie racing sensation is spruiking the McLaren racing team’s work on the Great Barrier Reef, which has just undergone another mass bleaching – the fifth such event since 2016.
At first blush, McLaren’s collaboration with the Great Barrier Reef Foundation seems surprising: emissaries of a sport that literally runs on fossil fuel, joining forces with those hoping to save one of the most delicate ecosystems on the planet.
But the synergies are there, both sides insist.
A McLaren Formula One car is a marvel of engineering: 75,000 individual precision-built components working at maximum efficiency.
Researchers say it’s that level of engineering proficiency they will need to build the industrial scale, automated coral nurseries required to give the reef a fighting chance.
“In Formula One we’re always trying to make everything more efficient and trying to get more performance out of everything,” Piastri said.
“We’re always trying to make the car quicker. With this project with the Great Barrier Reef Foundation it’s the same intention; we’re trying to grow as many coral as possible, in the most cost efficient way, and as quickly as possible. So there’s quite a few parallels,” he said.
“The mindset you need and the skills you require are actually quite similar.”
Great Barrier Reef Foundation executive director Anna Marsden said “no single player is going to save the Reef”.
“It’s going to be a lot of people working together,” she said.
But the McLaren team’s focus on constant improvement was exactly the sort of mindset the Reef needed, she said.
The visit to Hayman Island is actually Piastri’s first proper visit to the Reef, having lived in the UK for the past eight years as he raced up the motorsport ranks.
“This is a great opportunity for me to see a bit more of Australia, and it ties in with a great initiative,” he said.
“It’s not often that you get to do things outside of racing, especially with how busy the calendar is now.”
Having gone from new kid on the F1 block in 2023, to a household name this year – with the 1.8 million Instagram followers to show for it – Piastri said he’s getting “a bit more comfortable to be a bit more out there”.
And for speaking up on issues, it would appear he approaches the task with the same cool head he approaches when driving at top speed. Sceptics don’t seem to bother him at all.
“We’re racing cars, there’s no hiding that fact,” he said.
“But we are conscious of the impact we have on the planet and are conscious of trying to minimise that as much as we can. We’re getting involved in these kinds of projects because we believe in them and we feel we can add value.”
The writer flew to Hayman Island as a guest of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation.
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