Get to know maybe the coolest, calmest F1 driver in history

Oscar Piastri might be the most innovative Formula 1 driver ever.

The Australian exudes a sense of calmness that seems to permeate his entire being.

He doesn’t criticize his rivals. He doesn’t shout on the team radio. He really avoids controversy.

This quality has been notable since he made his debut in F1, just over two years ago. One of his biggest strengths as he navigates his first title campaign is the fact that he is seven races into a season that he could end by achieving his life’s dream at the age of 24.

Piastri says this “comes quite naturally”, but as in many cases in elite sport, it’s the work that’s done to hone the talent that makes the difference.

I’m not sure whether that’s due to my genes, according to Piastri. “But there is a lot of conscious effort on maintaining that. It may come more naturally, but it’s trying to find a place in which to be calm and know what works best for you.

” I’m still a human and I still have emotions, so I still have to control it. And I have a strong reason for that.

He is starting to gain a lot of fans thanks to Piastri’s Zen-like personality and the desert-dry humor that go along with it.

But he is a simple soul, and it comes as no surprise to hear he cares not for the trappings of F1.

According to Piastri, “I don’t get bothered by much of the fanfare that goes on.”

“And I appreciate all the support that I get. However, I’m here to operate race cars. I like driving race cars. I enjoy moving quickly. I like trying to beat other people. That’s why I’m here.

” I feel like I’m a pretty simple person. And yes, I don’t give much because my humor is a little dry. But that’s just me being me.

“In this sport, it’s very easy to get lost trying to be something you’re not and sort of fit in.”

” I feel like I can just be myself. And I believe you can develop a little more of your own skin once you have some positive results and feel more at ease. But for me there’s not that much shell. That’s how I’m acting.

Piastri credits some of his mentality on having to make it to F1 from so far away.

He was 14 when he moved to Europe. His father, Chris, stayed with him for the first six months, but then he returned to Australia and Piastri went to boarding school in England.

According to Piastri, this led to his “growing up quite quickly; you get a lot of life experience very early.”

” It was definitely a big decision, but I never had to question it too much, “he adds.

My initial reaction was, “OK, I want to become a professional racing driver.” If I can do it in Formula 1, then that’s even better. And traveling to Europe is the only way to get there.

Piastri is leading the championship by 13 points from his McLaren team-mate Lando Norris heading into this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix.

His most notable year came in 2024, when he won his first grand prix in Hungary and won a second there thanks to his brave, diligent, and decisive overtaking maneuver that has become his signature.

Those incisive racing skills have paid off this year. He already has two of the season’s best overtaking maneuvers in place.

A brave pass on Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari in the wet around the outside of the fastest corner on the track in Melbourne and – even better – on Hamilton again in the dust around the outside of the kink approaching the high-speed chicane in Saudi Arabia, a move that was critical in ensuring he took the lead from Verstappen around the pit stops in Jeddah.

Does his unflinching personality have a similar effect to his strong resolve?

“I don’t know if it’s a parallel”, he says, “but they’re certainly linked.

They’re kind of opposites in some ways, don’t you think? My calm personality and some of my moves are on the aggressive side. However, I do believe that having a calm mind and clarity of thought are the driving forces behind those movements.

Although Verstappen caught him unawares with his stunning pass into the first chicane in Imola on Sunday, Piastri has already shown he is not intimidated by the four-time champion’s uncompromising approach to racing.

Verstappen said in a rare insight into his racing philosophy last year, “When I race with someone, he will not be able to overtake me around the outside.”

But Piastri has already proved he has what it takes. In Jeddah, he took Verstappen’s place in the first place, and he did it again in Miami with a move that started with a circle around the outside, which forced the Dutchman to brake too late, allowing Piastri to cut back to the inside.

” Even without Max saying that, just from watching him through the years and now racing against him, I already knew that, “Piastri says.

And I have to be honest, I have it, even if it’s a less brutal approach, but it’s definitely not dissimilar.

“Max and I race each other in quite a similar way. We both push the boundaries, in my opinion, and they are very strong and unyielding.

” I always try to be fair, but it’s a very fine line between good, hard racing and just overstepping the mark, and it’s always difficult to find that balance.

What impresses about Piastri in battle is the preciseness. He doesn’t waste any time. He doesn’t go for a move that’s not on, or try a half move that is not going to come off. When the moment is right, he waits and pounces.

“I learned pretty early on in my career that normally when you do things half-heartedly in a race car, that’s normally when things go wrong”, he says.

The best way to avoid getting into trouble is typically to simply commit to things, whether that means pushing on a qualifying lap or especially overtaking someone.

” That’s obviously a bit of a mental hurdle to get over, but I feel like once I got over that in my karting days, then it’s been more or less a strength of mine ever since. “

In Piastri, the racing prowess have been present from the beginning of F1. Where he has stepped it up this season is in his outright performance.

Unquestionably, Norris was McLaren’s lead driver last year, with Verstappen typically taking the stage. Piastri beat the Briton only four times in qualifying in the whole season, and his average lap-time deficit to his team-mate was 0.147 seconds.

The average time advantage for him now stands at 0.146secs, making Piastri’s score in his favor over all qualifying sessions, including the sprints, this season.

This is the foundation for his four wins, to Verstappen’s two and Norris ‘ one.

How has he managed to reverse the situation so successfully?

” The team’s done a great job with the car, “Piastri says”. Additionally, the team did a fantastic job with me. That part goes both ways. Every single area has improved for us. The driver being one of them.

“Basically, just trying to chase performance in every way possible.

” Last year what was hampering me was my qualifying performances, which I think ultimately came down to a slight lack of pace overall. And it was undoubtedly a challenging but incredibly worthwhile exercise to try to find that pace.

The answer, he says, has been” trying to just find the last couple of hundredths (of a second) in every category you can. They all come up in the total.

“The first place you look at is obviously the driving and the data, and no two people will drive in an identical way. However, typically, one driver has qualities that are superior to the other. And some from another that are better than your team-mate’s.

Lando has obviously been a great example of that, because he has been very quick throughout our relationship.

“I am maybe a faster driver. But I don’t believe it’s because I can do things I couldn’t do before. It’s just that I’m able to tie it together a lot more.

It is obvious how different from Norris, who has spent the majority of his year explaining why the car doesn’t work as he wants and how that has been hindering him.

But both McLaren drivers are in the title fight – Verstappen is currently third, 22 points behind Piastri.

Does Verstappen’s presence matter when he and Norris compete against one another in the middle as they take points?

” It is a possibility, yes, “he says”. However, because we’ve been the best team, including against the other car in the team, we want to win on both sides of the garage. You always want to earn things on merit and you want to be able to beat everyone, including your team-mates.

“So that gives Lando and I the best chance to achieve both our personal goals of striving to win the constructors’ championship and achieving both of our individual goals,” he said.

” If we do get beaten by Max, of course that would hurt, but we would know that we both had the same opportunity, we were racing everybody out there and that’s just how it panned out.

“We have asked for it because it’s the most straightforward and fair way to compete,” he said.

And does he think about the fact he can end the year as world champion?

He responds, “A little, yes.” “But I’ve also thought about it before this year as well.

It’s very simple to say, “Yes, that’s the situation I’m in,” but what I’ve been doing over the past ten years, particularly the last two, has been building to try to get ready for when I’m in this situation.

“And it’s very easy for me to just go: ‘ Well, if I execute this practice session, execute this qualifying session, execute this race, naturally my championship’s going to start to look pretty rosy. ‘

The pressure builds up once the season gets closer to the end of the year, which is obvious.