It is time for F1 to go to the Land Down Under! With the 2024 Australian Grand Prix weekend on the verge, F1 drivers have started to head to Australia. The local hero Oscar Piastri is already there, as he gears up for his second home race. However, amid the race preparations, fans have caught the McLaren driver in a unique activity. Apparently, the transport department of Australia may have upped their game to bring in Piastri for doing some of their public transport announcements.
According to a Reddit post, a video shows a tram announcement that has a voice very similar to that of Piastri. The announced who may supposedly be Oscar, is giving people updates on the frequency shuttle trams to Southern Cross station which is a public transport hub in Melbourne, Australia.
While there is no official word from the 22-year-old or anyone else on this new endeavor, fans are speculating this may be a nice off-track fun activity ahead of the Australian GP. Some fans have also joked that the Australian transport department may have repeated a parody of what Alpine did in 2022, without Piastri’s consent!
Of course, this is banter, and just in case, this is a cloned voice of Piastri, he may not mind it as a harmless prank. Though, given the similarity of the voice in the announcement, many fans believe it is the #81 driver.
One fan mentioned that the calm and nonchalant nature of Piastri’s voice is perfectly suitable for such announcements.
While fans enjoy this banter off-track, Piastri is looking to up his game for his second home Grand Prix. With McLaren having started briskly so far, the Australian driver will hope they progress a notch above in Melbourne.
Oscar Piastri and McLaren want to punch above their weight
Starting his sophomore season in F1, Oscar Piastri is looking quite settled at McLaren. Relative to 2023, his race pace looks better which was his key weakness compared to Lando Norris. Thus, Piastri would want to capitalize on the same and look to achieve better results and beat Norris this year.
The 22-year-old has started decently as McLaren maximized what they could achieve in Jeddah with a P4 finish for him. If not for an off-set strategy for Norris, they could have finished both cars in the top 5. Nonetheless, as they come to Australia, the Woking team seems to be in a much better place than last season.
12 months ago, McLaren had one hand tied behind its back due to a lack of development on their car when they came to Melbourne. Both Piastri and Norris were nowhere in the mix to fight for the top 5 spots on merit.
It was during a late red flag restart chaos when the McLaren duo climbed up into the points. In fact, Piastri scored his first F1 points in last year’s Australian GP itself. In 2024, the #81 driver would want to level up this miracle at his home race and perhaps get a podium.
