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The Motorsport Brief - Oscar Piastri · Rusty's Garage

• 0:02
  A listener production.
• 0:06
  Welcome to the Motorsport Brief, a short cast from Singapore ahead of this weekend's Formula One Grand Prix with a world champion in the making.
• 0:17
  G'day everybody, Rusty here.
• 0:18
  Shortly to Oscar Piastri, winner of an epic race in Azerbaijan last weekend, with a good time slot in Australia too.
• 0:27
  It's almost as though lots of people tuned in for that GP and they were treated to a gripping contest.
• 0:33
  And those casual viewers or general sports fans that mightn't always watch motorsport, it's like they suddenly gained an appreciation for this young racer's talent.
• 0:43
  How good's Piastri?
• 0:45
  That seemed to be the common reaction.
• 0:47
  Don't take my word for it.
• 0:48
  Plenty up here, though, who have followed the sport for decades believe he is something special, not just because of the speed he's demonstrated and the couple of wins he's had so far.
• 1:01
  It is the way that he goes about the business now.
• 1:04
  of racing and you'll get a sense of that in this chat which we recorded before the event proper started so thank you to mclaren and to oscar there it's back-to-back weekends of racing they have lots of commitments before they hit the track for round 18 at marina bay it is a massive season 24 events and to begin with it looked like max verstappen would dominate again what we've ended up with is
• 1:30
  is this variety of winners and some really memorable races.
• 1:34
  Now, Oscar might mathematically be a title contender, but he's a realist.
• 1:39
  It seems like a long shot right now.
• 1:42
  Keep in mind, though, he's only been in Formula One for just over 18 months, so incredible to think that he's even in this position.
• 1:49
  It seems like he has the right stuff to join Alan Jones and the late Sir Jack Brabham as an Aussie world champion in the years to come.
• 1:59
  For now, it's about ensuring McLaren seals the Constructors title and hopefully enjoying more champagne and visits to the podium along the way.
• 2:08
  I hope you enjoy this quick catch-up.
• 2:13
  Hello, mate.
• 2:14
  It's nice to catch up with you.
• 2:15
  Thank you for giving us a bit of time.
• 2:17
  Stressful, yet so satisfying.
• 2:20
  Just give us a sense of what Baku means to you kind of a week on now.
• 2:24
  Very special to pull that one off, I think, um...
• 2:29
  Yeah, probably one of the toughest races I've had in my career to try and win.
• 2:37
  I don't think we necessarily had the quickest car last weekend.
• 2:42
  And to be able to hang on was phenomenal.
• 2:46
  Obviously it took quite a big overtake to get there and a lot of defensive moves after.
• 2:50
  But no, it was incredible.
• 2:53
  And I think it's probably the happiest I've been in a race car when I crossed the line after that one.
• 2:59
  Azerbaijan, does anything translate, transfer to Singapore here?
• 3:03
  What are the chances, Gerard?
• 3:05
  I think we should be competitive, definitely.
• 3:07
  I think it's on paper kind of similar.
• 3:12
  It's another street track.
• 3:14
  It's bumpy here as well.
• 3:16
  There's a lot of low-speed corners.
• 3:19
  So in some ways it's quite similar, but in some ways it's very different.
• 3:22
  The downforce level is completely different.
• 3:25
  Some of the corner types are similar, but some are, again, very different to Baku.
• 3:30
  So...
• 3:31
  Yeah, I think we've kind of shown this year that we've got a car that's very consistent and good on a lot of different circuit types.
• 3:39
  I'm expecting Ferrari especially to be quite strong this weekend again.
• 3:43
  But I think we'll definitely be in the fight.
• 3:46
  It sounds as though the reaction to this back home has been really decent too because of the time slot, right?
• 3:52
  It was an earlier time slot to start the race.
• 3:54
  Have you had a good reaction?
• 3:55
  Have you had some good kind of feedback from friends and people that you love in the sporting community and so on?
• 4:01
  I had a few messages after the race, yeah, from fellow racing drivers or sporting people, some friends from school or all walks of life, basically.
• 4:15
  It's been pretty cool.
• 4:16
  Admittedly, I got more after my first win, but that's understandable.
• 4:20
  But, yeah, still a lot of support.
• 4:23
  And, yeah, I think just the support from the fans in general as well was very, very special.
• 4:29
  So, yeah.
• 4:30
  Yeah, I think they were enjoying a very entertaining race, regardless of who won.
• 4:35
  Yeah, I was glad that I could add to the show as well.
• 4:38
  You seem unflappable in the car ride.
• 4:42
  Is this a learn thing?
• 4:43
  Have you always had that?
• 4:45
  Is it part of your make-up?
• 4:48
  I think it is part of my personality in some ways.
• 4:52
  It is definitely something that's been a conscious effort as well, though.
• 4:55
  There's a lot of things in motorsport that can go against you that you can't control, and you kind of learn that along the way and try to focus on the stuff that you can actually control.
• 5:08
  And I think that race was very much kind of an exhibition of that, I guess, was a lot of...
• 5:15
  a lot of stuff going on, but I kind of took the race into my own hands and tried to hang on.
• 5:22
  So it is definitely something that's, I guess, part of my personality, but also, I guess, learn along the way through tough experiences, but learn along the way through the help of others too.
• 5:35
  There used to be a segment on radio called, I think it was called, What Cheeses Me Off or something.
• 5:38
  Are there moments though, maybe even away from Formula One, where you're not like that?
• 5:44
  Yeah, definitely.
• 5:47
  I think in F1, I think everybody has a limit on how much they can handle.
• 5:56
  I've certainly been pushed to my limits a couple of times, but I think outside of F1,
• 6:02
  It's the same stuff as most people.
• 6:04
  Traffic, I hate getting stuck in traffic.
• 6:09
  Yeah, in some ways I always get more annoyed at stuff outside of F1 because I know that it's not, I don't have quite as much attention on my performance.
• 6:19
  And you know,
• 6:21
  kind of let myself go a little bit, because if you get stuck in traffic for 10 minutes, it doesn't really impact that much, but it's just annoying and frustrating.
• 6:27
  Whereas, you know, you get frustrated by something in a race car, and then you're taking away from the job you're actually trying to do, and it does affect your performance.
• 6:37
  Yeah, I have my moments, but they're normally not in front of cameras.
• 6:41
  Is this also too about, and I think you've talked in the lead up to this about culture here and how great it is at the moment and so on.
• 6:49
  So by having that attitude, this is contributing to what is a great culture throughout the whole place at the moment.
• 6:55
  Yeah, definitely.
• 6:56
  I think, you know, whether I want it or not, I am, I guess, kind of one of the spokespeople of the team and, you know, I guess sort of on the front line of representing the team.
• 7:12
  So I need to be, you know, of course I want to be a good role model, but in some ways I need to be a good role model.
• 7:20
  So I think, you know,
• 7:22
  I guess in some ways I have a lot of influence on the team around me as well, whether it be my engineers, mechanics, other people in the team, you know, trying to set a good example, even if I am one of the youngest guys in the team, you know, obviously being one of two drivers has a lot of weight to it.
• 7:39
  It's definitely something that I try to bring if I can, but I don't think we're a team that needs me to bring a whole lot, to be honest.
• 7:49
  I think we already have a very good culture under Zach and Andrea and just the whole team at a wider level.
• 7:57
  But anywhere I can help and further that culture is something I try to do as well, because it's within my own interest to make that happen.
• 8:06
  Quick break here on Rusty's Garage.
• 8:07
  More of our pre-event chat with Oscar Piastri in Singapore in just a few moments.
• 8:15
  You're listening to The Motorsport Brief, our garage shortcast.
• 8:18
  For all sorts of news and stories happening in the world of motorsport, we spoke with Oscar in Canada last year and here in Singapore.
• 8:26
  12 months on and still relatively early in his F1 career, he is flying.
• 8:33
  Let's get back to the convo now.
• 8:34
  You're not even quite two full seasons into your F1 career yet, right?
• 8:39
  Are you ahead of where you thought you wanted to be right now?
• 8:43
  And I think you've talked about still wanting to work in some areas, perhaps qualifying consistency.
• 8:48
  Just talk about that.
• 8:50
  I would say for the most part I'm about where I wanted to be.
• 8:53
  I think, of course, as a driver, as a sports person, you want to be always a step ahead of where you actually are.
• 9:02
  But I think I've made really good steps this year from last season.
• 9:05
  I think in terms of managing tyres and managing races, it's definitely clicked a lot more this year.
• 9:12
  My qualifying consistency this year has been...
• 9:16
  Maybe not quite as good as I wanted, but there's never been any doubts about my pace.
• 9:21
  It's just been getting it all together at the right time, which of course is a massive element of it.
• 9:26
  But if you go into each weekend knowing that you've got to find some pace or pull out something special...
• 9:34
  then it is a very different feeling.
• 9:36
  So I think just trying to improve on that would make life easier for me.
• 9:40
  You know, whenever you qualify higher up, it helps you out massively.
• 9:44
  So that is probably a focus at the moment.
• 9:46
  But I think a lot of the things we have tried to work on in the last 12 months have definitely been a good improvement.
• 9:53
  How difficult was it to kind of walk the tightrope with the press in recent weeks?
• 9:59
  Some good support from Australia, I thought, right?
• 10:01
  But clearly some strong viewpoints from some of the international press too.
• 10:06
  Yeah, I mean, it's...
• 10:08
  in some ways a blessing and a curse to be in the situation we're in.
• 10:13
  You know, of course, we've got a massive fight in the Constructors' Championship that we, you know, of course, are in good shape for now, but it's not a given that we'll win.
• 10:22
  And, you know, for both of us to win the Drivers' Championship is a very outside chance.
• 10:27
  So...
• 10:28
  You know, of course, different people are going to have different opinions, especially different nationalities.
• 10:34
  You know, I think a lot of people want to see racing, but, you know, I know that if the team want me to try and help out, then I will because, you know, I don't just race for myself.
• 10:46
  I race for a much bigger team than me.
• 10:48
  And, you know, if I can help anyone in the team, including Lando, then, you know, it's always a good thing to be doing.
• 10:56
  So, yeah.
• 10:58
  Yeah, of course, a lot of talking about it, a lot of conversations about it.
• 11:01
  But again, like I said, it's a blessing and a curse to be in this position where you need to talk about it.
• 11:09
  Cool.
• 11:09
  Fun quick one to finish.
• 11:11
  Has this team got a nickname for Oscar Piastri?
• 11:14
  And if so, what is it?
• 11:19
  Can we really know?
• 11:20
  I don't think we really do.
• 11:22
  We actually, well, funny story actually.
• 11:28
  It's not really a nickname for myself, so to speak, but we had a fun moment with an aerodynamicist from Baku who was impressed by my overtake and...
• 11:41
  We have, you know, we do all sorts of looking into overtaking and how easy or how difficult it should be from a numbers point of view.
• 11:50
  And basically from the numbers, the overtake I made wasn't really in their model, which is kind of like the analogy they used was a bumblebee that aerodynamically shouldn't be able to fly, but the bumblebee doesn't know that, so it flies anyway.
• 12:08
  So that analogy got used for myself last week.
• 12:11
  So I've had a few people call me a bumblebee today, but I don't think that's going to stick.
• 12:16
  Perfect way to finish.
• 12:18
  Good luck for the rest of the year.
• 12:19
  Hope we get to taste some more champagne.
• 12:20
  Thank you for talking to us.
• 12:21
  Thank you.
• 12:21
  I hope so too.
• 12:24
  Some numbers for you on Oscar, courtesy of Sean Kelly, the virtual stat man, who was actually on the short cast with us recently.
• 12:32
  Oscar has been the top scorer in the last seven Grands Prix.
• 12:36
  He scored 39 points more than Sir Lewis Hamilton in that time, for example, and 41 more than championship leader Max Verstappen.
• 12:45
  He is the only driver on the grid to have led the last seven consecutive races, winning two of them.
• 12:52
  And he's led the most laps in that time frame of any driver, 119.
• 12:57
  Now McLaren's last victory here in Singapore, 2009 with Hamilton, 15 years ago.
• 13:05
  Maybe that'll change this weekend.
• 13:07
  Now, put those numbers aside just for a moment.
• 13:10
  This 23-year-old has shown maturity beyond his years for some time.
• 13:15
  He was overseas, away from home, away from family for long periods of time while he climbed the ladder, the junior formula, and he really applied himself around his schooling.
• 13:26
  That was the deal.
• 13:26
  He had to complete...
• 13:28
  his education and do it well, even though he was living overseas.
• 13:32
  And I've since learned that the Halebury School has a program, I think actually named after Oscar now, that will equip young students aspiring to do something similar in sport or the arts to be able to live overseas and finish their studies.
• 13:48
  So a teenager who knuckles down and does it right,
• 13:53
  That's someone who is properly committed and disciplined.
• 13:56
  I have no doubt that foundation serves Oscar very well now, and we're seeing evidence of that.
• 14:04
  Before I go, a word on Dan Ricciardo.
• 14:07
  As I record here, there are rumours swirling that this will be, sadly, his last F1 race, that young Kiwi Liam Lawson,
• 14:16
  who did an exceptional job subbing for Dan last year.
• 14:18
  Remember, he scored points at this very race in 2023 and is the reserve driver in waiting, that he may be in that seat, Liam Lawson, as early as the next round in Austin, Texas.
• 14:30
  Now, Dan told the team from Sky F1 that he's waiting on an answer about a contract extension for 2025, and he's unaware of this chat that he could be out of the drive after Sunday's race.
• 14:45
  It is bittersweet for me.
• 14:47
  I can remember Dan Ricciardo starting his F1 journey.
• 14:50
  It seems like yesterday.
• 14:51
  Eight wins.
• 14:53
  I still think he has something good to offer behind the wheel.
• 14:56
  Equally, I've had a bit to do with Liam in New Zealand, and he deserves to be on the grid, and he should be there now.
• 15:03
  He's been incredibly patient while he's waited.
• 15:08
  If it's over for Dan, and I truly don't know the answer to that, if it's over, I hope he gets to play in the sport in some other way.
• 15:17
  He actually worked on, I don't know if you remember, an alternate commentary for American audiences with the comedian Will Arnett from the Smartless podcast with Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes, which I love, by the way.
• 15:29
  And Dan is a huge star of the sport.
• 15:33
  So I hope...
• 15:34
  that they can keep him involved if he can bear the thought of not lining up on the grid.
• 15:41
  That's it for today.
• 15:42
  Enjoy the F1 night race, everyone.
• 15:43
  Bye for now.