5 Months After George Russell Gave Drivers’ WhatsApp ‘Group Leak’, Oscar Piastri Contradicts His Mercedes Rival’s Revelation

A mere five months ago, Mercedes driver George Russell made a significant revelation in front of the world. The British driver revealed that all the F1 drivers had a chaos-filled WhatsApp group. Meme sharing, engaging in banter, and creating havoc amongst the 20-driver community are the primary pillars of the group, as revealed by the 25-year-old. However, Oscar Piastri recently told YouTube channel P1 with Matt & Tommy that the group isn’t as exciting as expected initially.

Russell’s earlier revelations created a buzz throughout the F1 community, with many people trying to glimpse what the group contained. Sadly though, Piastri says the reality is relatively dull.

Oscar Piastri plays spoilsport to George Russell’s revelations

As Piastri conversed with the hosts, he faced the burning question surrounding the F1 drivers off the track. With high expectations, the 22-year-old McLaren driver’s response was far from what people would’ve wanted to hear.

“There’s like a ‘GPDA’ WhatsApp group chat. It’s not as… I think everybody has this really grand idea of how exciting it is and people are just taking shots at each other and posting memes but it’s really quite, quite formal.”

All the F1 fraternity would be disheartened to hear the Australian’s words, perhaps even hoping they were false. Not only are Russell and Piastri on contrasting ends about the nature of the group chat, but they also stand on opposite ends when it comes to competing in the F1.

Piastri v Russell could become an interesting battle once the season restarts

After a rocky start to the season, Mercedes have bounced back in form with some impressive performances. The Brackley-based team sits at P2 in the constructor’s championship, with only Red Bull ahead. McLaren, however, has started catching up. The Austrian GP saw McLaren rise through the ranks and take home P4 via Lando Norris. With Aston Martin already performing above expectations, McLaren’s jump in performance has further upped the competition to be the second-best in F1.

 

Mark Webber has hailed Oscar Piastri given his rookie status in #F1 and the fact that the Aussie hadn’t raced for fifteen months before joining the grid this season.

“I think it’s still so easy to forget that Oscar didn’t race last year…”#Formula1 #McLaren #MCL60 pic.twitter.com/526DckIaSk

— McLaren F1 News 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇦🇺 (@TheMcLarenZone) August 10, 2023

The British outfit continued their impressive performance by securing back-to-back second-place finishes at Silverstone and Hungaroring.

McLaren now stands 5th in the constructor’s championship and seems to be rising fast. Should Russell and Piastri continue to support their teams’ constructor championship goals, we might have an exciting finish when the time comes.