Compared to some of his more publicly charismatic compatriots to have raced in F1, Australian rookie Piastri appeared notably guarded whenever he was dealing with the media last season.
Rather than reveal any off-track inexperience by over-sharing, being too self-deprecating or ending up in a protracted war of words with a rival driver, Piastri seemed totally unflappable.
Some may have taken that measured approach to indicate a lack of personality, that Piastri was the latest young driver to have been PR polished to a fault on his way up the FIA F2 and F3 ranks.
Autosport Top 50 of 2023: #26 Oscar Piastri
However, speaking to Autosport, Piastri says he very much is taking a ride on an emotional rollercoaster but he saves those rare flareups for when the doors are shut.
Challenged about coming across as guarded and rarely offering a killer soundbite, he replies: “I would say I’m very self-critical. For me, there’s just not any point, especially in self-deprecation, destroying yourself in front of the media. If you want to do that on your own, then sure.”
Piastri isn’t one to lock himself in a hotel room after a bad day, turn up the volume on a particularly sad playlist and wallow. Instead, he channels his anger into finding solutions.
“For me, just trying to find answers to things is the most important thing,” he continues. “There’s been some difficult sessions, some difficult races. But, and I think this also comes across in my radio, there’s no point getting upset or emotional about things you can’t control.
Photo by: James Sutton / Motorsport Images
Oscar Piastri, McLaren, poses for the 2023 McLaren team photo
“It’s much better to try and fix things that you can control than just get upset about them. So, that’s always been my way of trying to tackle these things and just trying to keep a clear mind.”
While many will have followed Piastri’s meteoric rise up the junior single-seater ladder, for others, he will have mainly popped onto their radar for a now infamous tweet.
Amid the fantastically frantic summer 2022 driver market silly season, Piastri was moved to post: “I understand that, without my agreement, Alpine F1 have put out a press release late this afternoon that I am driving for them next year. This is wrong and I have not signed a contract with Alpine for 2023. I will not be driving for Alpine next year.”
As Alpine dithered over offering two-time world champion Fernando…
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