By Tom Cary
Oscar Piastri winces slightly when I put the question to him: Should the situation arise in Brazil this weekend that he finds himself in P1 and Lando Norris P2, and he is in a position to gift his McLaren teammate a race win, would he move over to help Norris’ title bid?
He smiles and nods his head. “Not unless I was asked,” he admits when speaking to Telegraph Sport before taking pole for the sprint race. “I’d have to be asked, but if that’s what the team wanted me to do, then yes I’d do it.”
Oscar Piastri took pole for the sprint race in Brazil.Credit: Getty Images
Piastri’s reticence is understandable. Not only is the Australian star still mathematically in contention for the title – 111 points behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen with a possible 120 points still on the table – he has won only twice in his F1 career to date and is hardly going to be thrilled about the prospect of giving away a third victory.
Piastri, though, also knows that Formula 1 is a team sport. What goes around, comes around. It could be him in Norris’ situation this time next year. As long as it does not affect McLaren’s constructors’ championship chances – the papaya team currently lead Ferrari by 29 points as they chase their first constructors crown since 1998 – then he is reconciled to the fact that he may have to help Norris, especially after finishing ahead of his teammate in sprint qualifying.
“I am,” he says. “You know, I think with the team, it’s not in my personality anyway, but you never want to burn bridges. That applies in life generally, but especially within your own team.
“It would be a bit painful – I’d be lying if I said it wouldn’t – and I’m not just going to give [a win] away for free. They’d have to ask. But if it’s for the benefit of the team, then I know that that benefit could come my way in future.”
Piastri has proved an interesting addition to the Formula 1 grid in his two seasons at McLaren so far. Quiet and unassuming off the track – the opposite of his fellow Australian Daniel Ricciardo – he is all-business on it. Norris has credited Piastri with raising his game since his arrival from Alpine following an ugly contractual dispute. He has had to. Piastri is threatening to do more than just keep Norris on his toes – he is threatening to surpass him altogether.
Wins in Hungary and Azerbaijan this year have been interspersed with runner-up finishes for Piastri in Monaco, Austria, Belgium and Italy as the 23-year-old has found his feet in his second full season. The Australian has already scored 251 points this season compared with 97 in his rookie year. Yes, his car is better. But so too is Piastri.
If McLaren once again have a race-winning machine next season, he reckons he will be pushing Norris all the way. “I would certainly hope so,” he says, sitting in McLaren’s motorhome in the Interlagos paddock. “I’m definitely improving. I think for the majority of this year I’ve been pretty good. It’s more a case now of tidying things up.”
Such as? “I think last year I had some pretty fundamental things I needed to work on and improve, such as managing my tyres. This year I feel like I’ve made a massive step forward in that respect. But there are still little things. For example, my qualifying has not been as good as I’d have liked. I’ve made a lot of races a bit more difficult for myself than I wanted to because I’ve had to fight through the pack.
Piastri with teammate Lando Norris at the previous round in Mexico City.Credit: Getty Images
“Those tenths, hundredths, thousandths – with how tight the field is at the front, that can make the difference between being on pole, or being on the second or third row of the grid.”
The other area in which Piastri feels he still has some headroom is experience. He says it is no coincidence his strongest results this year have been at the European circuits he knows well.
“There are still some tracks, like China, where it was my first time there,” he says. “Others that I’m coming to for a second time I’ve made a big step [forward at] from last season. But I still need a few more [visits] to get to where I want to be.
“I think the tracks I’ve been more familiar with, though, like through Europe, I’ve been generally happy with my performance.”
So a lot of untapped potential then? “I think so. Maybe not a lot. But some. Enough.”
‘I’ve heard some people refer to me as the new Kimi’
The way Piastri carries himself – earnest, serious – is not to everyone’s taste. They point to some of the grid’s more colourful characters, some of them even younger than Piastri, and suggest the 23-year-old is, for want of a better word, a tad boring. Piastri makes no apologies for who he is. Nor should he. After two seasons he is becoming increasingly confident in who he is and there is clearly a character in there.
“I’ve heard some people refer to me as the new Kimi,” he says, referring to former driver Kimi Raikkonen.
Does he mean in terms of the Finn’s monosyllabic interview style, or perhaps he means his penchant for vodka-fuelled partying? “Haha, yes the latter,” he says. “No, I guess I’m not a particularly expressive person. But I think in some ways it makes it more powerful when I do show that side of me.
“I guess I try to have my own personality in my own way. I hope that comes through, but I want my success and what I do on the track to be the main thing, rather than cracking jokes.”
If Piastri is successful on the track for the rest of the season, it could go a long way to landing Norris his first F1 title, and McLaren their first constructors’ crown in a quarter of a century.
Norris’ deficit – 47 points with four race weekends remaining – is a daunting one. But Piastri, whose mistake in Q1 last weekend saw him start from the back of the field in Mexico, can help by wedging himself between Norris and Verstappen wherever possible, making the Dutch driver’s job that bit more difficult. Or even moving out of Norris’ way if asked.
Many feel McLaren ought to have asked him to do so earlier in the season – then Norris might not have had such a mountain to climb now. But Piastri is unrepentant. He says he respects the way Norris did not ask for any favours. And nor would he expect any in return if the shoe was on the other foot. That makes him more minded to help now.
“I think the way Lando has gone about it, I respect that,” he says. “I would have quite a similar outlook. And, you know, it always raises questions if it [success] needs to be gifted to you. But I think at this point of the year, it’s more than reasonable [to help]. I think it’s perfectly fair.
“Of course the main goal for me is the constructors’ championship. I’m trying to get the best results I can for the team, but naturally that will help Lando. So it’s kind of helping one to help the other.”
And does he think it’s achievable? “Max’s lead is big so it’s certainly not an easy task,” he says. “But it’s a very tight fight between the top teams right now so the swing either way can still be quite big at the moment. I think it’s possible. It’s going to be tough, but I think it’s doable.”
Telegraph, London