Oscar Piastri’s Mum Takes a Dig at F1 as She Irons Out “List of Things to Worry About” at Las Vegas GP

Oscar Piastri becoming a rookie sensation would’ve been on many people’s F1 2023 bingo card. With the Aussie’s talent, that would’ve been a safe bet. Something that wouldn’t have made anyone’s bingo card? His mother, Nicole Piastri, became an internet sensation. But this season has been full of pleasant surprises—from McLaren’s miraculous mid-season turnaround to Piastri making the most of it, even getting his first (Sprint) race win. Nicole Piastri’s Twitter game is just another one, the latest installment of which came at the Las Vegas GP.

Formula 1 returned to Las Vegas after 41 years. This time, everything’s bigger, brighter, and better(?). Bigger because the circuit isn’t in the parking lot of Caesars Palace. Brighter because Vegas is Neon City, and the lights around the track are anything but dull. In terms of better, F1 may have left the Caesars Palace GP’s issues behind, but FP1 at the Las Vegas GP started with its own problems.

Piastri’s mom wasn’t happy with F1’s first Las Vegas GP outing

Things to worry about for teams at the Las Vegas GP: the new, slippery track. An unknown for everyone. The cold temperatures. Difficult tire warm-up. Chances of rain. The possibility of crashes. Coming into the Las Vegas GP weekend, every team knew they would face a few uncertainties. But what really happened had nothing to do with any of these. It involved the driver Piastri has had the most on-track tussles with—Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.

Teams knew the practice sessions in Vegas would be crucial. As much as their drivers would’ve driven around the track on the simulator, there’s nothing like the real thing. So when they finally got onto the circuit in FP1, the session saw a premature end when Carlos Sainz stopped on track. Why? He went over a broken drain cover (which had no business being broken) and damaged his car’s engine, battery, and monocoque. The FIA suspended the session to fix that manhole and every other one on the circuit. That’s where Nicole Piastri entered the conversation.

Things to worry about for Mama Piastri at the Las Vegas GP: her son. Like any parent who has to watch their child compete in one of the most dangerous sports. Remember when she couldn’t even handle seeing a picture of Oscar on a bike? Understandably, her son’s safety is pretty high on her list of priorities. Seeing as Helmut Marko mentioned how Sainz’s crash could’ve been fatal, broken drain covers were definitely a safety hazard. And Nicole Piastri made it clear as she took a dig at F1 on Twitter (now X), writing, “I was not expecting manhole covers to be on my list of things to worry about this weekend 😟

Considering FP2 played out pretty smoothly—that’s to say, there were no manhole-cover incidents—she can rest assured that she needn’t worry about manholes if not anything else. Does she need to worry about anything else, though?

Read More: “Hate to Break It to Her”: Oscar Piastri Shows No Mercy While Hilariously Piling Over Mother’s Misery

Oscar Piastri (and everyone else) needs to be wary of the pit exit

Add the Las Vegas Street Circuit’s pit exit to Nicole Piastri’s ‘list of things to worry about this weekend.’ First, it’s a brand-new track with fresh asphalt. Second, the low temperatures won’t help the track’s already little grip. Also, the track layout is such that straights cover most parts of the track. They don’t help with tire warm-up either. Considering all this, the conclusion is that drivers will be sliding around, especially when they’re coming out of the pits.

After a pit stop, getting tires in the right temperature window for grip takes time. Until that happens, cars slide around. The thing is, there’s almost no room to do that in the extremely narrow pit exit in Vegas. Moreover, it’s on the inside of Turn 1, right on the apex of the hairpin corner. So, if a fast-approaching car were to navigate that corner while another car exited the pits, it could end badly for both of them. Not to mention, it could potentially put others in danger as well. 

WATCH THIS STORY | How Oscar Piastri Has Made a Scintillating Rise to the Pinnacle of Motorsport

How do you think the Las Vegas GP will play out? Will F1 give Nicole Piastri any more inclination to ask Oscar Piastri to step away from cars, just like she ordered him to do with bikes?