Oscar Piastri finds his voice as F1 confidence and expereience grows
McLaren driver Oscar Piastri in conversation at the Belgian Grand Prix. Spa, July 2023.
Oscar Piastri says he has grown the confidence to speak up during engineering meetings now that he has been in Formula 1 for a while.
When F1 gets back underway in Zandvoort next week, it will be Piastri’s 13th race in the sport and already he has made quite the impression.
Moving on from his infamous Alpine tweet, Piastri is now known for what he does on the track including just barely missing out on pole behind Max Verstappen and finishing on the sprint podium.
Oscar Piastri ‘a bit more vocal’ after time spent in F1
But even for a talented driver such as Piastri, it can be a little intimidating the first time you step into an engineering meeting.
Not only was Piastri paired up with the experienced Lando Norris, he was also replacing Daniel Ricciardo, a man who has years worth of racing under his belt.
Piastri did admit that it took him a while to find his voice but insisted that it was “natural.”
“Even when I came to the team at the beginning of the year, yes, I had had no race experience, but I obviously had experience of driving other F1 cars, so I guess I had a different perspective again, from other people,” he toldSpeedcafe.com.
“I think my confidence to be a bit more vocal has definitely improved and I think that’s natural.
“But I think from the beginning of the year, mine and Lando’s comments about the car behaviours are very similar anyway. And that’s not really changed, even with the new updates.
“So, I feel like we’re very much on the same page with that.”
As for how much Piastri was willing to disagree with Norrs on, he denied that the senior driver should have the bigger say.
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“It doesn’t really require a team leader mentality so much if you’re both saying the same things,” Piastri said,
“There’s definitely certain areas that maybe we’re more focused on and stuff but yeah, I feel like I’m at home with the team.
“Once you get some decent results on the board, have some good weekends, of course, your credibility naturally goes up, whether it’s conscious or not.
“So yeah, I feel more confident, but at the same time, I wasn’t afraid to say what I felt with the car, and also say what I felt about myself; [if] I felt like the I couldn’t give good enough feedback on the car because of how I was driving. I wasn’t afraid to say that either.
