Hunting for All-Time Best F1 Rookie, Oscar Piastri Reveals Eerie Similarity With Lewis Hamilton’s Journey

This is how the story of Oscar Piastri in Formula 1 has gone so far: After being the prize in a tug-of-war between McLaren and Alpine, Piastri chose McLaren as his entry into F1. Hoping to hit the ground running after a 15-month hiatus from racing, McLaren couldn’t give him the car to perform and show his talent. When the Woking squad did give him the machinery to perform (after introducing its upgrade package), the Aussie rookie has been on fire. Although he’s still chasing his first podium in F1, his ability to extract the maximum from the MCL60 and keep up with Lando Norris has proved he’s on his way to becoming one of the best rookies the sport has seen. 

He’s up against the 2007 Lewis Hamilton, who, like Piastri, also started his F1 career with McLaren. But that’s not all they have in common—wondering what else they do? In a recent interview, Piastri revealed what got him passionate about motorsport. As quoted by formulapassion.it, he said, “As a child, I liked to practice all kinds of sports. The family has always liked cars, especially in my father’s branch. One day, my father bought me a go-kart, but even before that, when I was six years old, I was racing with radio-controlled (RC) cars. At the time, it was more of a hobby than anything else, but slowly it got bigger and bigger.” [Translated by Google]

Does the story sound familiar? That’s because this is precisely how Hamilton’s interest in motorsport sparked as well. In 1991, at the age of six, Hamilton’s father bought him a remote-controlled car, and he didn’t take any time to fall in love with racing. Practicing day in and day out with his RC car, he became a prodigy, winning tournaments against people almost 15 years older than him. In his first year of racing RCs, he was even a runner-up in a national RC racing championship. 

Read More: “Easy to Forget”: Oscar Piastri Hailed by Trusted Ally for Overcoming Adversity to Challenge Lando Norris

From the looks of it, Hamilton got used to F1 just as easily as he did RC racing, because, in his rookie season, he was competing for race wins and the championship from the get-go, finishing runner-up that season. Although Piastri didn’t reveal his RC racing exploits, there’s no doubt had he been in a championship-winning car, he would’ve taken the fight to Max Verstappen. While he does share similarities with Hamilton, the seven-time champion wasn’t the driver he idolized while rising through the ranks.

Oscar Piastri reveals who he looked up to in his junior career

While Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher are the names almost every driver brings up when asked who they idolized growing up—with the younger generation even mentioning Hamilton, Vettel, and Raikkonen—Oscar Piastri looked up to someone much closer to him in age. In a YouTube video on the P1 With Matt and Tommy Channel, they asked the Aussie about his idol. He replied, “I would say I never really had one specific idol. Like when I was growing up watching, Mark Webber was at Red Bull. Obviously, being Australian, being in a Red Bull that was very quick at the time, I naturally followed him.”

He added, “Even some of the guys in the junior ranks above me, like Lando [Norris], was always two or three years above me, winning most things on his way up. So, I guess kind of him in some ways.” Most drivers aim to one-up their teammates, but Piastri revealed how Lando Norris inspired him and still does. For him, Norris is the benchmark he’s trying to beat this season.

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Oscar Piastri is undoubtedly one of the biggest talents to have stepped foot in F1 in recent years. Do you think he has what it takes to beat Lando Norris this season?