Oscar Piastri Claims Winning Championship Shouldn’t Come at the “Expense of Being Calm and Nice”

Oscar Piastri has developed a reputation of being calm, and respectful, even when things aren’t going his way. Sometimes, that is considered a drawback with general consensus being that an F1 drier should be more aggressive. However, Piastri feels that being a World Champion should not come at the expense of being a nice person.

“Just because I’m calm doesn’t mean that I’m not ruthless,” the McLaren driver said. “There’s been a lot of tough situations through my career where you need to get your elbows out.”

“You have to earn your respect and I feel like that’s something that I’ve done and try to race people hard but fair.” he added. “I definitely think I’m ruthless enough but that doesn’t have to come at the expense of being calm and a nice person as well.”

“Just because I’m calm, doesn’t mean I’m not ruthless.” – Oscar Piastri https://t.co/EHtRzNyeQm

— Oscar Piastri Reddit (@op81reddit) July 30, 2024

Piastri in addition to being level-headed, also has a well-appreciated sense of humor. The 23-year-old and his mother Nicole, often take to social media to engage in light-hearted banter on several things.

Piastri has also been very compliant during his time in F1 so far. This is why there is a nice guy notion attached to him.

At the same time, assuming that he is a pushover just because he is polite, is a mistake.

Piastri is ruthless when push comes to shove

Piastri is one of the most exciting young drivers in F1, and recently won his first ever F1 race in Hungary. In the future, he is expected to win many more races, but till then, there will be some ambiguity surrounding his nature on the track.

At the same time, he gets what he wants. He proved that by tweeting about wanting out of Alpine back in 2022.

I understand that, without my agreement, Alpine F1 have put out a press release late this afternoon that I am driving for them next year. This is wrong and I have not signed a contract with Alpine for 2023. I will not be driving for Alpine next year.

— Oscar Piastri (@OscarPiastri) August 2, 2022

The infamous, straightforward message highlighting that he wasn’t an Alpine driver led to a controversial start to his career. But, once it began, he was fairly quiet.

The tweet Piastri sent out has been almost entirely forgotten, and he only does his talking on the track through his driving.