Having just committed to extending his contract by another two years until the end of 2026, it is clear that McLaren sees a very bright future for the young Australian.
But it is not just his raw speed that has stood out during his early spell at Woking, because there are aspects of his personality that have deeply impressed team management – and reminded them of some of F1’s greats.
Speaking at Suzuka on Thursday, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella suggested there were hints of both Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher's personalities that Piastri was displaying.
“When McLaren so strongly wanted to sign Oscar, we looked at the results in the junior categories, and in the early days of the collaborating we could see what he achieved, there were good reasons for that to happen,” explained Stella.
“We could see these in the natural speed, which, if you want, is related to the talent. We even saw it the first day of the simulator. The way he was kind of assessing his own performance, saying: ‘This is where I am, this is where I need to improve.’ It was matching so well with what we could see from the data, it was quite impressive.”
Stella thinks that strong understanding of his own performance is a powerful tool to help him improve.
“These qualities have to do with being able to continuously improve,” continued Stella. “I'm sure there were a lot of people that were talented, but it didn't lead anywhere because there was no attitude to continuous improvement.
“I think we have really good examples now on the grid, of drivers that can keep being extremely competitive at ages that we didn't think would be obvious, because of an attitude to continuously improve. So, in this sense, I think this one is a similarity with Fernando.”
Source: Autosport