Oscar Piastri delivered one of the most impressive rookie seasons in recent F1 history, following his 9th-place finish in the 2023 season. Over a year ago, in October 2022, the Australian driver sat down with the YouTube channel ‘Pitstop’ for an exclusive interview, speaking about his growth in the sport. While here, the Australian also revealed a curious fact about the physique of George Russell, which led to the Briton struggling inside the Mercedes car.
“I think there was George Russell as well when he debuted for Mercedes. He has to wear a shoe size smaller because the tops of his feet were hitting the top of the tub.”
At the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix, Russell had to jump in the thick of things alongside Valtteri Bottas as Lewis Hamilton was ruled out of the race after testing COVID-19 positive. With the car tailored to Hamilton‘s physique, Russell’s feet could not fit in at the end of the tub, leading to him having to wear shoes a size smaller. Given how tight the racing shoes are, to begin with, wearing a smaller size and driving around a track for 87 laps is no mean feat. The young Briton would’ve been in incredible pain but focused instead on securing the best possible result for his team.
George Russell says he “felt no additional pressure” at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix, because “when the helmet’s on, you forget about everything else”.#F1 #GR63 https://t.co/4pP7Q7aB9U
— Mercedes F1 News – SilverArrows.Net (@SilverArrowsNet) January 23, 2022
Russell was on course to record his first-ever race win when he went into the pitlane as the race leader. However, a tire mix-up meant he had to pit in the next lap, dropping down to 5th. He closed in on race leader Sergio Perez once more, but a late tire puncture meant he would no longer be able to win the race. Russell eventually finished the race in ninth place, but the performance was enough for him to impress the Mercedes bosses and earn him a contract with the team two years later.
Oscar Piastri explained how even the smallest details can have a major impact on a driver
Much like bigger feet would often become a problem for drivers in being able to fit in an F1 car properly, having bigger nails also poses as an uncomfortable feeling for drivers when they put on the gloves. However, Piastri revealed he found it better if he had longer nails, but that was something others did not approve of. The feeling of freshly cut nails is an eerie one for the McLaren driver, and as such, he came up with a particular day (the Wednesday before race weekend) to cut his nails short.
Oscar Piastri, Prema Racing, Jeddah, 2021. Photo: Lars Baron. #F2 #Qualifying pic.twitter.com/G0XBrRD16d
— Demetriou Neto (@NetoDemetriou) February 4, 2023
The primary reason behind an otherwise lazy Piastri cutting his nails was Angelina Ertsou. In his F2 days, Piastri was a driver with PREMA Racing for two years. Ertsou was PREMA Racing’s Communications Manager at the time and worked closely with Piastri.
Each day, she would greet Piastri and immediately check if his nails were cut or not. Hence, a feeling of fear instilled in Piastri that if he wouldn’t cut his nails, Ertsou would yell at him. The 22-year-old even mentioned that even having longer toenails is uncomfortable as it leads to holes in the drivers’ special socks.
