Oscar Piastri had a rookie season to remember — winning a Sprint race and standing on the podium two times. Personally, however, Piastri saw it as a year he learned a lot, including the value of experience.
The Melbourne-born driver, as reported by AMuS, recently spoke about the biggest differences between F2 and F1. All drivers in F2 (and other junior categories) are almost the same age, so there isn’t a lot of disparity in terms of years of experience. In F1, on the other hand, it plays a huge role.
When he got to F1, he realized that the drivers who have spent a lot of time in the sport have a huge advantage.
Piastri used teammate Lando Norris’ example. In 2023, when Piastri partnered up with him, Norris was already in his fifth F1 season, despite being just 23. Piastri also brought two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso into the equation.
“You’re going up against people like Fernando [Alonso], whose career has lasted longer than my entire life,” Piastri said. “It took a while to understand how valuable this experience is.”
Piastri: Then you’re going up against people like Fernando [Alonso], whose career has lasted longer than my entire life. It took a while to understand how valuable this experience is.
3/8 #AMuS
— Junaid #JB17 (@JunaidSamodien_) October 2, 2024
The Australian also noted how he also had to learn a lot of technical things about F1 that are vastly different from other categories he has taken part in.
Piastri had to learn about tires all over again in F1
One of the most crucial things Piastri had to master when he came to F1 was tire management. He revealed how drastically different it was to F2, as the races in the feeder series were much shorter in comparison.
Piastri remarked that for new drivers, it takes considerable time to learn how to extract performance from tires in F1 and, more importantly, to ensure they last throughout the race.
“It takes time until you know how to get the most out of them [tires] and how to conserve them over the distance,” he continued. “That also has a lot to do with experience. There is no shortcut to learning that.”
A natural winner everywhere he goes. Today, at last, he tastes victory in the pinnacle of motorsport
This is Oscar Piastri’s journey to the top step in Hungary #F1 #HungarianGP pic.twitter.com/w7JhEpWRRx
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 21, 2024
It appears that Piastri is beginning to put all the pieces together in terms of tire management. He executed a flawless tire management strategy during the Hungarian Grand Prix earlier this year, securing his maiden Formula 1 victory by outperforming his more experienced teammate.
