Oscar Piastri is enjoying the best spell of his Formula 1 career to date. After an outstanding triple-header, he leads the world championship for the first time.
It’s worth remembering that he’s only started 51 Grands Prix. In fact, Piastri is younger than Michael Schumacher was the first time he topped the standings.
While he only finished third in a tightly-contested Japanese GP, Piastri has picked up back-to-back wins in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. The first was more dominant than the second, but he exuded control in both cases.
Overall, it’s three wins in four races, and 97 points from the last 108 available. This serves as confirmation that, as many expected, Piastri has taken another step over the winter.
Meanwhile, McLaren teammate Lando Norris is toiling. After victory in Australia, his results have got steadily worse, culminating in the end of his 100% podium record in Saudi Arabia.
Norris crashed out in Q3, having looked like the favourite for pole, and could only recover to fourth. That saw him relinquish the title lead, with Piastri now 10 points ahead.
Oscar Piastri has vowed to be ‘super positive’ about McLaren car – unlike Lando Norris
Speaking on ESPN’s Unlapped podcast, journalist Nate Saunders said Norris had a tendency to ‘put his foot in his mouth’ during his interviews. He’s perhaps prone to saying too much, opening himself up to ‘spin’.
David Coulthard says Norris has given rivals a ‘competitive edge’ by talking himself down after recent mistakes. His self-critical approach continues to be the subject of much debate.
While he’s taken responsibility for those errors, he’s also repeatedly said that McLaren’s MCL39 car isn’t as good as the rest of the paddock seems to think. Norris even invited Max Verstappen to drive his car and told him he’d be negatively surprised.
On the other hand, Piastri has told his inner circle that he’s going to be ‘super positive’ about the McLaren in the media. He’s deliberately adopted a different tack.
“Lando talks so much in the media,” Saunders said. “He’ll give these long, long answers. He’ll give an answer, and it’s almost like his brain says ‘you know what I’m going to do, I’m actually going to keep answering and I’m going to put my foot in my mouth again, I’m going to say the car isn’t as good as everyone says it is’.
“It’s just stuff that creates headlines and creates all this spin. I know for a fact that Oscar Piastri has told people around him that ‘I’m just going to be super positive about the car’. He’s not a massive talker anyway, Piastri.”
How advice from Mark Webber may be shaping Oscar Piastri’s McLaren interviews
Piastri’s attitude is arguably smarter. It gets the team on side, which may be important should McLaren have to throw their weight behind one driver as Verstappen lurks.
It also avoids the kind of headlines that create added pressure in the cockpit. But Norris is adamant that his brutal honesty has served him well in the end.
Piastri’s manager Mark Webber used to say he’d give the press ‘nothing’. And it sounds like his protege may be following that advice.
Verstappen spoke warmly about Piastri after last Sunday’s race, noting that he’s ‘very calm’ and ‘barely makes mistakes’. Having benefitted from his father Jos’ guidance, he reckons the Australian is receiving ‘a lot’ of valuable help from Webber.
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