Oscar Piastri’s final few laps of the 2024 Hungarian GP were tense, owing to Lando Norris, who was refusing to give up his place. Piastri, however, did not show any signs of agitation or worry on the team radio, which other drivers would likely have. This brought back memories of Kimi Raikkonen’s calm personality in the F1 car, which earned him the nickname “Iceman”. That tag, however, would now be Piastri’s.
Lollipopman Comics posted an animated clip of Raikkonen calling Piastri his disciple, and congratulating him for doing well and staying calm (in Hungary). Piastri thanked the former World Champion and asked if he did his master proud. Since they were both not big talkers, the conversation was portrayed in subtitles.
Bwoah https://t.co/qZ6IaaKBkx
— Oscar Piastri (@OscarPiastri) July 26, 2024
Raikkonen only used the word “Bwoah” and Piastri used “Oscar“.
Piastri, upon coming across the video, reposted it on his X account and used Raikkonen’s words as a caption. The Finn, during his driving days, would say “bwoah” whenever he didn’t feel like answering a question or needed time to think.
Raikkonen developed a reputation of being very collected and a man of a few words. Piastri too, turned out to be a lot like him, except for the fact that he wouldn’t get as angry as the ex-Ferrari driver when things did not go his way.
Piastri Clarifies: “I’m not a Robot”
During the 2023 Austrian GP, one of the jetpack stuntmen crashed. And when the cameras zoomed onto Piastri to get a reaction out of him, the Melbourne-born driver didn’t utter a word.
Jokes referred to Piastri as a “robot“, especially because he would also respond to questions very directly. Piastri told Autosport,
“I know I come across as very calm but I’m not a robot. I do have peaks and troughs… I’m probably more on the relaxed side of things, but there is definitely being too relaxed too. So, I think just finding that right balance and finding out what works for you is important.”
In Hungary, Piastri celebrated his first-ever F1 win in a very subdued manner. His victory was marred by McLaren’s strategy debacle, and his low-key reaction could have been a result of that.
