Latest / Rusty's Garage / The Motorsport Brief: McLaren F1 Driver Oscar Piastri ahead of Canadian Grand Prix

Transcript

The Motorsport Brief: McLaren F1 Driver Oscar Piastri ahead of Canadian Grand Prix · Rusty's Garage

• 0:02
  A listener production.
• 0:05
  Welcome to the Motorsport Brief.
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  It's Friday the 16th of June 2023.
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  Formula One has headed back over the pond for round eight this weekend.
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  Remember, with the unfortunate flooding in Italy recently that forced Imola to be called off, it's actually the seventh race of the season.
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  70 laps around the 4.3km Circuit Gilles Villeneuve that's been around since the late 70s by the St Lawrence River there in Montreal, Quebec in the country's east.
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  And today, for the first time on the pod, we are chatting to an Aussie who is there and looks set for a big future in the sport, having impressed his team on a couple of occasions already in just his first season of F1.
• 0:53
  G'day everybody, Greg Rust with you for this week's Rusty's Garage Shortcast.
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  Massive weekend coming up.
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  Supercars are in Darwin for one of the signature events on their calendar.
• 1:03
  There is drag racing and Australian super bikes up there too and more.
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  While we're talking about drag racing, we released our latest long-form episode in recent days, a well-overdue chat with Jim Reid, the legend who is in a small group of very special Aussies in the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame.
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  Jim's remarkable career spans nearly 60 years, so we have made that a three-parter for you.
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  We've had...
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  quite a few messages on it already too.
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  Thank you.
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  I'm pleased that you like it.
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  Our thanks to Jim as well.
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  He was incredibly forthright and shared some stories I'd not heard before.
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  So you will enjoy that one.
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  Now, just this week, I spent some time with young Hudson Kelly and his dad, Owen, who competes in Trans Am.
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  Owen has raced at Bathurst and in NASCAR.
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  You can
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  also find his pod in the Rusty's Garage library.
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  Now, Hudson is just seven years of age, and he's already learning to drive a kart early days, but the kind of generational love of racing in the Kelly family looks set to continue.
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  He's a great guy.
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  He's actually been doing some laps with Rick Kelly's son, Lex, out at the Oakley Kart Track in Melbourne, a venue where it all began for Oscar Piastri as a 10-year-old.
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  Since his move to Europe, it has been an almost stratospheric rise for Oscar.
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  Won the F3 title in his debut year, did the same thing in F2.
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  They are the steps on the ladder just beneath Formula One.
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  He's now 22 years of age and driving for the famed McLaren team at what some regard as the pinnacle of motorsport, F1.
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  And he is on the line from Canada.
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  Oscar, thank you so much.
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  Welcome to the show.
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  Thanks for having me, Rusty.
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  How are you?
• 2:53
  I'm great, thank you.
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  Hey, it's our first chance to catch up with you since Melbourne.
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  Huge cheers from the crowd on the driver's parade there.
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  What is kind of etched in your mind from that very special lap?
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  Yeah, it was a very, very cool experience.
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  Honestly, it was actually quite emotional going around there.
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  I think I got to like turn three and it's quite a good grandstand around there through turn four on both sides.
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  So you're kind of getting the cheers from both sides.
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  Yeah, very, very special weekend in general, but yeah, that lap will stick with me for a very, very long time.
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  So no, it was very cool.
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  Bit surreal for someone who was a grid kid, not all that long prior, hey?
• 3:37
  Exactly, yes.
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  It wasn't that long ago that I was standing on the grid, holding the driver's flags, and yeah, to have someone holding mine or standing in front of me in the national anthem was yeah, a bit of a...
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  life accomplishment moment, I would say, or a life recognition moment.
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  So no, very, very cool.
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  Good stuff.
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  I know it's not a win or a podium, but how satisfying were the Albert Park and Monaco races, even beyond the points you scored?
• 4:08
  Yeah.
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  Yeah, I think Albert Park was nice to just get the monkey off my back of getting points.
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  Obviously, quite a lot of action in the race that we managed to capitalize on, which was good.
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  But yeah, from a personal standpoint, I guess I felt like I wanted more from that race.
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  I think Monaco, I was generally quite happy with it all.
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  It was probably one of the...
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  just more normal races I've had so far in F1.
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  You know, even Melbourne, three red flags was a new experience.
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  And Monaco, you know, everything just went quite smoothly in the race, even if the rain did spice things up a bit.
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  So yeah, Monaco I was very happy with because it felt like it was purely on merit.
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  Albert Park.
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  Obviously we were there when it mattered and took advantage of others making some mistakes.
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  But no, nice to have those two-point scores and obviously to get my first home Grand Prix under my belt was a big experience as well.
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  You won a string of titles in the lead up and then a season with no racing.
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  What impact did that have to begin with this year?
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  I think I was probably a bit rusty at the start of the year.
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  Yeah, it's never ideal to not be racing, especially for 12 months.
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  We did some testing in an older F1 car, so I was sharpening some skills doing that and obviously getting used to driving an F1 car at speed and everything that comes with that.
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  But you can't replace the lap one, turn one battles and where to position your car and stuff like that.
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  That's just stuff you can't do on a test day by yourself.
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  We tried to focus on what I could learn from last year and this year, yeah, a bit rusty at the beginning.
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  And also, you know, just a bit of race weekend sharpness as well.
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  You know, being in a high-pressure situation in qualifying, for example, you know, it's not quite the same on a test day.
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  And also the races, like I was saying, turn one, lap one, you know, having to do pit stops, even a full race distance.
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  You know, those are just things that you can't quite do in testing.
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  So, yeah, a bit rusty at the start of the year.
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  I feel like I'm getting there and learning more and more.
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  But, yeah, obviously didn't help my on-track start to the year, I would say.
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  There is some new stuff in the pipeline coming for the car.
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  Time will tell on its actual performance, I know.
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  But are you optimistic of a step forward here?
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  And if so, why?
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  Yeah, I think we're optimistic about it.
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  Obviously, all the engineers and aerodynamicists have all the numbers of it and what they've seen in the tunnel and in CFD looks encouraging.
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  Obviously, we've got to make sure that translates to the real track, but...
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  Yeah, I think it's kind of the first step from Baku where we went in a bit of a different direction with the floor in particular, and this is kind of building on that direction for the first time.
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  So, yeah, it should be a good step forward.
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  As you said, time will tell how much exactly, but, yeah, we're encouraged by the numbers so far.
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  So, yeah, I think we can be optimistic.
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  Good stuff.
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  Hey, I've worked very fortunately with Mark Webber a number of times in broadcasting.
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  He is great with succinct observations around Formula One.
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  How does he help you?
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  And was there a one-liner kind of piece of advice from him that you will always remember?
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  I don't think there was a one-liner piece of advice.
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  I mean, he comes out with good one-liners all the time.
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  Time, yeah.
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  But I don't think there's been one in particular.
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  I think he's been very, very helpful with me.
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  You know, firstly, both him and Anne making sure that my life...
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  outside of the race weekends is as straightforward and hassle-free as possible, which is very much appreciated.
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  But also on the race weekends, you know, Mark's obviously had a successful career in F1 and other series as well.
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  And he still thinks like a racer.
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  So, you know, he's always got ideas for me.
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  He's obviously been in my shoes for a long time in the sport and, you know, knows how it feels to be a driver and, you know, things to...
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  to work on and things he's experienced in his own career.
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  And also from a team perspective, he's obviously worked in world championship winning teams in F1, in the world endurance championship as well.
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  So he obviously knows the inner workings and stuff like that of how teams achieve success.
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  So he's been very helpful on a lot of fronts from that aspect.
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  But yeah, I would say there's probably just as much behind the scenes that he looks after for me as he does in terms of advice.
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  We'll take a quick break here.
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  We've got a couple more minutes with Oscar, and that is all coming your way in just a few moments.
• 9:02
  McLaren driver Oscar Piastri is our special guest on this edition of the Motorsport Brief from Montreal in Canada ahead of this weekend's F1 round.
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  Lando said recently that he's observed you are a quick learner.
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  What have you perhaps learned from him on and off the track?
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  It sounds like you're getting on pretty well.
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  Yeah, we're getting on well.
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  I think, you know, as a working relationship, I think it's very strong.
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  You know, we've always got very similar feedback on what we need from the car, from a development point of view going forward, which is always, I guess, reassuring for the engineers, reassuring for myself that, you know, there's both of us that want to improve the same things.
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  But also for the engineers, it makes life a bit easier.
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  When you've got two drivers and obviously Lando's proven himself in his time in F1.
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  And I think having two drivers saying the same feedback simplifies things for the engineers a bit more.
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  So I think that's been very good.
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  Obviously, he's, like I said, a top driver on the grid as well.
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  So he's been a good benchmark for me in terms of comparing myself.
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  and sort of judging how I'm doing.
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  Of course, I'm looking at myself and how I can improve every time I get on track.
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  But it's nice to have that benchmark there in all the sessions too.
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  Getting up to speed faster on race weekend and the want to kind of accelerate that process.
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  How difficult is that when it's a new venue like where you are this weekend in Montreal?
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  It definitely adds a spanner in the works.
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  Obviously, we've had a lot of tracks that are either street circuits or new or both in some cases.
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  So it's not been, I guess, the easiest start to the season from a calendar standpoint.
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  But, yeah, I think that's something I want to do a bit more.
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  You know, I think there's been a few races where coming into qualifying, I've...
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  had a bit of a gap to try and make up and you know it's not the nicest feeling going to qualifying knowing you have to step your game up a bit more but yeah i think here in canada obviously uh a new track another difficult track it's basically another street circuit with with how close the walls are here and there's a lot of weather around it's raining as we speak so um
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  Yeah, it'll be a difficult learning experience, but I'm looking forward to it.
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  And yeah, obviously, the quicker I can get up to speed, the better it is for myself, the better it is for the engineers, and it just makes things a little bit easier for everyone.
• 11:25
  Cool.
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  Finally, it sounds like as a person you set yourself an extremely high bar.
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  Where does that sort of trait come from and what objective have you maybe set yourself for the remainder of your rookie year?
• 11:39
  Yeah, I think that's true.
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  I think everyone on the F1 grid is probably their harshest critic and I don't think I'm any different in that aspect.
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  I want to be the best driver I can and...
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  I think it's just trying to pursue excellence, I guess, is why I'm hard on myself and set a high bar.
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  And I think to be the best, you have to.
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  So, yeah, I think sometimes maybe I forget that I've only done a few races in F1, but at the same time, I don't want to sort of have the rookie title giving me an excuse.
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  And I certainly don't see myself or see that as an excuse to make mistakes.
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  I think coming into the beginning of the season, I kind of said to myself and publicly as well, I'm expecting to make some mistakes here and there, but I want to make sure I make them once and don't repeat them.
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  And I learned from those experiences, which I think for the most part I've done a pretty good job of, I think.
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  But yeah, I just want to tidy a few things up.
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  And of course, I think everyone is always trying to improve and everyone can say that they've got things to work on.
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  So I'm no different in that aspect.
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  We're proud, mate.
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  Keep pushing.
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  Go hard for the remainder of the season.
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  And when you get a moment, sit back and reflect on some of that good stuff because there's lots of positives to take away from what we've seen so far.
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  Thank you for talking to us today.
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  No worries.
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  Cheers for having me.
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  Thanks.
• 13:09
  A big thanks to Jonathan Kampkin, who works for the Webbers and Jam Sports Management for his help in teeing this one up, as well as Sophie Og and the crew at McLaren Comms.
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  We look forward to getting Oscar back on at some stage in the future.
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  Before we go, a couple of other shout outs that caught our attention this week.
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  Firstly, to Clay Richards, who made his TCR debut at Winton, and he impressed with,
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  some top 10 finishers the son of five-time bathurst winner stephen richards who was on the tools there clay's been a front rudder in the highly competitive toyota 86 series and clearly has his eyes on following in the family footsteps in touring car racing was very cool to see clay's granddad the legendary jimmy richards trackside at winton they're supporting him too
• 13:58
  Lana Flack became the first female round winner in the Australian Karting Championship since Leanne Ferrier back in 1997.
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  Lana won the Cadet 12 category in Newcastle recently.
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  Fittingly, Leanne was trackside when it happened and was among the first to congratulate her.
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  Well done, Lana.
• 14:17
  Martin Truex Jr. picked up his second win of the NASCAR season.
• 14:20
  It wasn't all that long ago we mentioned his success at Dover.
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  Now Truex, who is guided by Aussie crew chief James Small, a recent Rusty's Garage guest who you can find, took out the race at Sonoma.
• 14:34
  It's Martin's fourth win at the California venue.
• 14:38
  A commentary colleague from the Speed Series, Fabian Coulthard, returns to Carrera Cup in Darwin this weekend.
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  Good miles ahead of his supercars endurance race appearances later this season.
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  He joins the Porsche Centre Melbourne team for the final seven rounds.
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  No pressure, Fabs.
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  Last time he was in the class about 20 years ago, he won.
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  The Le Mans 24-hour was epic.
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  Lots of big-name manufacturers fighting for the race lead there.
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  Ferrari won the centenary race.
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  Very special one to win.
• 15:10
  I note that some of you have been cheeky on socials too.
• 15:13
  How can they win a 24-hour and not get a two-hour F1 race right?
• 15:18
  Congratulations to...
• 15:19
  the antipodeans there so brendan hartley who you can find in the rusties garage library was with toyota kazoo racing they finished second earl bamber with cadillac racing was among the crew who came third scott dixon also with cadillac racing home fourth and ryan briscoe who we spoke to some time ago on the garage was with glickenhouse racing they came home in sixth position and jensen button who we were thrilled to get on in recent months he was a finisher and
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  with Jimmy Johnson in that NASCAR-inspired Chev that we spoke about in the podcast.
• 15:51
  And our congrats to Toby Price for his ninth win at Fink.
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  He has six King of the Desert crowns on two wheels there.
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  This was his third straight in cars.
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  That trophy truck of his sounds awesome.
• 16:03
  David Walsh chalked up win number four on two wheels for KTM, so he's in a pretty special club too.
• 16:10
  And well done to Wilkinshaw Performance and everybody at Ford.
• 16:13
  That same Ranger Raptor that won its class LV,
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  at the Baja 1000 last year, had a record-breaking run at Fink for a production-class win there too.
• 16:23
  And there was a little sticker that caught our attention with some Latin longs on the side of the ute.
• 16:28
  And when you check those coordinates, it was for Dakar.
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  We were wondering, will they tackle that next?
• 16:35
  The answer is yes.
• 16:37
  That is it for today.
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  Enjoy race weekend, everybody.
• 16:41
  It's going to be a beauty.
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  I'm Greg Rust.
• 16:43
  On behalf of our listener production team, we'll catch you next time.
• 16:45
  Bye for now.