Oscar Piastri has had an exceptional couple of weeks recently with him being under the spotlight after a series of great performances. As he continues to impress in his rookie season, rumors about Red Bull being interested in him have started to emerge. When asked if he would like to join Max Verstappen at Red Bull if given the chance, the Australian driver gave an interesting reply.
As for Red Bull, Sergio Perez’s recent struggles have kickstarted a lot of speculation regarding a potential replacement for him. The Mexican driver has been under severe pressure recently, as prior to the Hungarian Grand Prix two weeks ago, he failed to make it to Q3 in five consecutive races.
While Red Bull have denied that they are looking for a replacement, the discussions regarding the same continue. Veteran F1 expert Eddie Jordan too has commented on the same and believes that Piastri would be Perez’s perfect replacement.
In a recent conversation with talkSPORT, Jordan said, “I’m actually blown away with this young kid (Piastri). So he’d be one of the drivers I’d be looking at to challenge Max in the future”. Even though many believe that Piastri could become Verstappen’s teammate in the future, he revealed that he is happy with where he is currently.
Oscar Piastri finds it “flattering” to hear the Red Bull rumors
Oscar Piastri was once again the man of the moment on Saturday after he drove brilliantly during the Belgian Grand Prix sprint race and clinched second-place for McLaren. Not only did he finish second, but he also had the privilege of leading the race for a few laps before Max Verstappen established his authority. He became the first rookie driver to lead a race since 2013.
With the 22-year-old having been so impressive, the rumors of him being linked to Red Bull are also growing. When asked about the same during his most recent press conference, Piastri replied, “It’s flattering to have those comments. I’m very happy where I am“.
Start racing or head to the pits? 👀
An unusual start to our #F1Sprint as the grid decided what to do after we started behind the Safety Car! #BelgianGP #F1Sprint pic.twitter.com/GRUywiUDHz
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 29, 2023
He then added that he’s happy to be Lando Norris’ teammate at the moment as he believes that he can learn a lot from the 23-year-old. “I’ve got a very strong teammate to learn from. Who just by being a benchmark is a big help for me getting back up to speed. So yeah, I’m happy where I am,” he concluded.
Piastri seems content with where he is at the moment. But it seems that the speculations surrounding his future are unlikely to end anytime soon. Instead, if he continues to perform as he did during the Belgian GP sprint, he could have even more teams contacting him for a potential move in the future.
Max Verstappen praises Oscar Piastri for his sprint race performance
Oscar Piastri has undoubtedly had a strong 2023 season so far. After just 11 races, he has earned the praises of two-time world champion Max Verstappen. When the Dutchman was asked to comment on the McLaren driver’s performances, he explained how he has been mightily impressive so far.
As for Piastri, he has perhaps been most impressive this weekend in Belgium. He began the weekend by registering some storming laps during qualifying on Friday. He carried it on with a similar level of performance for the sprint shootout on Saturday.
After qualifying a fantastic second in the sprint shootout, he also drove a brilliant race to finish in the top three for the first time. Now, with him having delivered such fantastic performances, he was hoping to finish strongly in the race too.
Unfortunately, he made contact with Carlos Sainz on the very first lap. This forced him to retire from the race, and the Melbourne-born driver’s otherwise memorable weekend ended on a sour note.
