F1 driver Oscar Piastri is used to extreme pace on the track, but out of the car, not so much

McLaren star driver Oscar Piastri is used to driving at speeds north of 300 km/h, but the Aussie doesn’t quite boast the same confidence out of the car... and on the cricket pitch.

Julian Linden

4 min read

December 26, 2024 - 4:00PM

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Hoping his opponents will slow down and take pity on him is not normally part of Oscar Piastri’s makeup.

As one of the brightest stars in Formula One, the Aussie ace doesn’t give – or expect in return – any concessions from any of his rivals, despite the inherent dangers from driving at speeds up to 350km/h.

Fearless when he’s sitting in the cockpit of his flying McLaren, Piastri’s heart hardly ever misses a beat when he’s driving wheel to wheel in a car with 1000 horsepower.

But the 23-year-old isn’t quite as confident when he’s out of his vehicle and playing other sports where speed is a factor.

Like a lot of Aussies, Piastri tried his hand at a few different sports while growing up and took a shine to cricket.

Oscar Piastri was a bowler in his junior days. Picture: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

“I wouldn’t say I was a pretty decent cricketer, I was okay,” he told this masthead.

“I could bowl all right for the age that we were but I don’t think I ever would have come close to being a professional in another sport.

“I played a bit of cricket and played Aussie Rules footy as well before I raced go karts.”

A natural in motor racing, Piastri didn’t have a lot of spare time up his sleeve once he started making inroads on the track, but always kept an eye on other sports.

“As soon as I started that, the seasons are very much overlapping so I couldn’t play,” Piastri said.

“I played some basketball as well. Well, I attempted some basketball.

“When I was a little kid, I did little athletics and kind of played a bit of everything.

“I’ve got a bit more recently into tennis as well. I think as a kid, you kind of choose cricket or tennis, especially at school, they’re in the same school term so you either choose cricket or tennis and I always chose cricket.”

Piastri was a fan of cricket as a kid. Picture: Kym Illman/Getty Images

A budding all-rounder, Piastri was handy with the bat, but nothing like new teen Test sensation Sam Konstas, because his Achilles’ heel was facing the really quick bowlers.

Although it is outside his comfort zone, Piastri recently got a birds-eye view of what it’s like to face the very best when he had an impromptu net session with England paceman Jimmy Anderson.

The only fast bowler to take over 700 Test wickets, Anderson was visiting the McLaren team factory in Woking earlier this year when he met Piastri and they spoke about their shared interest.

“I spend a little bit of time with people, again that I looked up to on TV playing other sports. And that’s where my passion was before racing, just in other sports, but mainly cricket,” Piastri said.

“I have met a fair few of the Aussie cricketers, been to Lord’s and had a watch of their training session before the Ashes.”

ðŸ“¸ ðŸ well that was a fun day pic.twitter.com/Cc2MNcmGKb
— Oscar Piastri (@OscarPiastri) June 26, 2023

But things took an unexpected turn when Piastri agreed to stick the pads on and face Anderson in a net session. The Aussie started off OK, but made the rookie error of feeling too confident and spanking one delivery past the veteran Englishman.

“I faced Jimmy Anderson with a rubber ball at McLaren not that long ago,” Piastri said.

“Let’s just say dancing up the pitch to him worked for one ball and did not work well after that.”

Jimmy Anderson took 704 Test wickets

Piastri’s plea to Anderson to slow things down didn’t work. He got peppered with bouncers but survived the ordeal and went on to have a great season in F1, winning two races, finishing fourth in the drivers’ championship and helping McLaren win the constructors’ title for the first time since 1998.

Back home for Christmas, Piastri will be taking a short break before the 2025 season kicks off with pre-season testing in Bahrain in February before the opening Grand Prix of 2025 at Albert Park in March.