Oscar Piastri is currently leading the driver’s championship by 8 points, with teammate Lando Norris hot on his heels following the F1 British GP. The McLaren drivers have been running away from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen; the gap from Piastri to Verstappen has grown to 69 points.
Piastri spoke in a print media session before the race about the looming presence of the title battle.
The waning threat of Verstappen and the Red Bulls
In the twelve races so far this year, Max Verstappen has only been on the podium five times. At this point last year, the Dutch driver had nine podiums, seven of those being wins. Relatively speaking, this has been a down year so far for the reigning champion.
Despite the F1 rumour mill in full force surrounding the Dutchman’s seat next season, Oscar Piastri is unconcerned with how this headline story will affect his rival’s performance.
“I don’t think next year is really a concern for me. It’s obviously something for him to manage, and I don’t think it will distract him necessarily.
“And I think in the championship, I’m not really concerned with what Max is doing or how many points behind he is.”
Piastri’s focus is solely on what he can control. He stated in that regardless of the state of the Red Bull team and the RB21, Verstappen will continue to outperform his circumstances.
“I think he’ll be a threat every weekend, or most weekends, and I think that’s why you can’t rule him out. I think whether the car has the pace or not, we don’t know.
“Ultimately, I go into each weekend trying to just do the best that I can and worry about that. So I’m not that bothered where he is in the championship.”
Piastri on being the F1 driver’s championship leader
Oscar Piastri is not new to leading a championship. The Australian driver was very successful in his junior series. Winning Formula Renault, Formula 3, and Formula 2 in three straight years. He is the first driver in history to win FR, F3, and F2 consecutively.
When asked how it feels to be leading in Formula One on the world’s stage, Piastri responded, “It feels pretty familiar, to be honest.
“I think the championships I have won in my junior career have all been in different ways, so I don’t think there’s one way of going about it. So it doesn’t feel that different, in all honesty.”
The ever-cool driver then commented that his experience winning makes him feel confident for the rest of the season. He added that his name hasn’t been engraved on the trophy just yet.
“I’ve just been trying to keep the same approach.
“We’re still quite early in the year, so there’s still a lot to go on and a lot to happen, but it feels like pretty familiar territory from where I have been in my career, so I’m not really treating it any differently than that.”
