‘I want to be optimistic’: Oscar Piastri on track to emulate Lewis Hamilton’s world titles

Oscar Piastri has drawn comparisons to seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton and made a promising start at Friday’s practice sessions for the Australian Grand Prix.

Oscar Piastri, above, readies for the first practice session of the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park. Picture: William West/AFP

Daniel Ricciardo arrived at Albert Park at 10.14am. The joint was swarming with revheads. Dan! Dan! Down Under blasted over the loud speakers as Ricciardo took his backside trackside. Man at work.

Another electrifying, wall-shaking, bone-rattling atmosphere generated by another monster crowd at the Australian Grand Prix made such a racket I thought the swans on the river out the back might put their hands over their ears during Friday’s thunderous practice sessions. Ricciardo joined the young and dapper Oscar Piastri in taking their growling, spiderish speed machines for a spin … and Piastri was the standout.

His popularity is limitless. There’s as many “Piastri 81” shirts at Albert Park as “Kerr 20” jerseys at last year’s Women’s World Cup. He received a gift from the men’s Test cricket team on Friday; a signed bat and official helmet.

“Might try it out during practice,” he wrote on social media before finishing 10th and a highly promising seventh in his McLaren.

“Red Bull are going to be a step ahead and Ferrari are probably going to be a step ahead of us as well,” Piastri said. “But I want to be optimistic.”

Oscar Piastri on track during free practice. Picture: Mark Stewart

Upwards of 100,000 ebullient patrons, a mixture of motorsport experts and partygoers who wouldn’t know a chassis from a glass of champagne, made this feel like a Melbourne Cup on wheels. The full-throated, foot-stomping, banner-waving throng watched Red Bull three-time world champion Max Verstappen go so fast you thought the cops might have been after him; so fast you thought he might have been fleeing Christian Horner’s texting scandal; so fast he yet again topped the combined timesheets at day’s end.

“We’re dominant, blah-blah-blah, it’s boring. It’s not boring!” Verstappen said in response to complaints that his constant triumphs are bad for Formula One. “I’m trying to win as much as I can. Why should I feel sorry for people who are slower than me? I have zero empathy for everyone.”

Daniel Ricciardo of Australia with a fan holding a banner on the Melbourne Walk prior to practice. Picture: Peter Fox/Getty Images

Dan! Dan! One patron reckoned she travelled 17,472km to see the West Australian. Ricciardo struggled in his RB as if the first two lines of Down Under applied to him: “Travelling in a fried-out Kombi. On a hippie trail, head full of zombie.” He came 11th and 12th in practice and admits a top 15 finish in Sunday’s race will feel like a win. Top 10 shall be comparable to the conversion of water to wine.

Piastri isn’t the sort of bloke to blow his own trumpet. He’s unwilling to give it the slightest toot, blah, blah, blah, and so it was left to McLaren boss Zac Brown.

“Oscar had a fantastic rookie season last year,” Brown said. “People are saying it’s the best rookie season since some other guy in a McLaren, seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. He continues to get faster … He’s got his rookie stripes off now. I’m very excited about the future. He doesn’t make mistakes and he’s extremely fast.”