Oscar Piastri has been the find of the season, with McLaren benefiting hugely from the young Australian’s impressive driving skills. In one of the most impressive debut seasons in recent history, Piastri has emerged as a serious contender for a world championship in the times to come. A sprint session win in Qatar and two podiums at the back end of the season have greatly helped Piastri become a driver to look out for. The same has helped him increase his fan following, which was already massive since his F2 days.
Speaking of his fan following, engaging with the fans is an important factor in being a celebrated F1 driver. Piastri, too, spends a lot of time with his fans, and when this happens, giving out autographs is a given. Speaking to SkySports personnel (video uploaded on X by Ray- @ln4norris,) the 22-year-old revealed he has shortened his signature to increase efficiency and save time.
“My signature now is significantly shorter than it was at the start of the season.l because I couldn’t get through anything with my signature at the start of the season. So, now I can sign even more things for more people, and my hand doesn’t get quite as tired as well.”
As Piastri is hard at work in working out the littlest of things to improve his efficiency, the importance of the ‘big picture’ stuff is not lost on him. The young driver has been crucial in assessing his own performances so far.
Oscar Piastri is his own harshest critic
Assessing each of his races as a standalone performance, Piastri nitpicked his faults, as reported by The Guardian. Talking about the race in Japan, the 22-year-old said he was not happy with certain aspects of the race despite winning a podium place. However, he added that it was important to not beat himself up too much over it as it could lead to him losing focus on what’s important.
Andrea Stella believes Oscar Piastri’s raw speed will help Lando Norris learn and improve 🤝
“So for me Lando sees this as a bit of discomfort, but it is the discomfort you need to become the best in a way…”#F1 #Formula1 #McLaren #QatarGP pic.twitter.com/95E5B3OxIz
— McLaren F1 News 🏴🇦🇺 (@TheMcLarenZone) October 9, 2023
Team Principal Andrea Stella has also taken note of the dedication by Piastri. Having formerly been a part of teams that had Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso, the Italian engineer believes Piastri has similar traits to both former world champions. “Drivers that have the potential to become world champion need to have a natural speed, which we saw straight away.” Stella added another key factor is a driver’s ability to not lose focus, no matter what, and Piastri does a great job of keeping his head clean.
