Oct.4 (GMM) Oscar Piastri is flattered by the current reward of his expertise and potential coming from some very excessive locations not too long ago.
Simply this week, regardless that it’s Piastri’s teammate Lando Norris with the higher shot on the 2024 title, former F1 chief govt Bernie Ecclestone hailed the 23-year-old McLaren driver.
“The Australian, I feel, is a magic man,” mentioned Ecclestone, 93.
“He would, for certain, be world champion inside the subsequent two years if the automotive retains performing the best way it’s. He actually stands out amongst all of the others.”
It’s no shock that Ecclestone is a fan of Piastri’s, on condition that the boy-faced Australian has usually been in comparison with Alain Prost – the motive force Ecclestone commonly names as the best Formulation 1 driver of all time.
“It’s a comparability that I’m honoured by, particularly as a result of Alain was one of the crucial profitable drivers in our sport,” Piastri advised Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport this week.
“I wasn’t even alive when he was racing so I don’t have the entire image, however from what I hear or examine him, I do see some similarities between us.
“Prost had a really clean and rounded driving model. He was very exact in his work. I can see that in myself too.”
Piastri even is aware of quadruple world champion Prost, 69, personally, as they labored collectively at Alpine just some years in the past previous to the Australian’s F1 debut.
“I spoke to him a number of instances after I was nonetheless at Alpine,” Piastri confirmed. “It was extremely attention-grabbing to speak to him and he additionally gave me some suggestions.”
A kind of suggestions might have been about methods to minimise accidents and incidents, with Prost having famously admitted that he solely ever drove a automotive to a most of 99.9 % of its potential.
“It’s not fairly like that now,” Piastri insists. “In our time you at all times need to drive on the restrict.
“When Prost was racing, the automobiles had been much less dependable and never as protected, so going over the restrict had a lot higher penalties than it does at the moment. However you continue to can’t go over the curbs each lap.
“At this time it’s about hitting the restrict exactly. When you keep a tenth below, you’re too gradual. When you go over it, the tyres punish you. It’s a high-quality line.”
