Australian Formula 1 rookie Oscar Piastri has put “a massive amount of pressure on himself” ahead of his debut in Bahrain in March.
That’s the view of leading journalist and former Williams and Ferrari team manager Peter Windsor, who compared the 21-year-old’s situation with that of three-time world champion Ayrton Senna when he came into the sport.
Piastri was at the centre of a high-profile tug-of-war between Alpine and McLaren last year, with the Melburnian famously turning down a drive with Alpine via a strongly worded tweet. Shortly afterwards he was named as Daniel Ricciardo’s replacement at McLaren, where he will go head-to-head with the highly rated Lando Norris.
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“Here’s a guy who said no to Alpine and he’s going with McLaren,” Windsor said.
“It’s kind of counterpoint to Ayrton in a way because Ayrton wanted to start with a small team and grow with that team and then, after a year, maybe go to a Lotus or a Williams or wherever, whereas Piastri’s not doing that.
“If he’d gone in as a rookie driver alongside Esteban Ocon at Alpine there’s slightly less focus on him and slightly less pressure than he’s got now at McLaren, where he’s up there alongside Lando Norris having turned down Alpine.”
Norris effectively put an end to Ricciardo’s career, with the Australian struggling to match the pace of his younger teammate over two years at McLaren.
It’s why Windsor says Piastri will be under the pump from the beginning.
“He’s putting a massive amount of pressure on himself, which Ayrton Senna never did,” he explained.
“But on the assumption that he is the next Ayrton Senna, which is what a lot of people tell us, then it’s going to be interesting to see how he goes.
“And it’ll be interesting to see how Lando handles that as well, really interesting.
“Personally, I think Lando is exceptionally good and I think he’ll have no problem at all with Piastri, but given everything that’s happened in the last nine months with Piastri you’ve got to say this guy is unbelievably confident of his own ability to get in there and be an Ayrton Senna because he turned down Alpine.”
Piastri was forced to sit on the sidelines in 2022, having won three championships in three years in the junior categories.
He joined established F1 stars George Russell and Charles Leclerc as the third driver to win both F3 and F2 as a rookie, but Windsor pointed out there’s still a question mark over his ability.
“He achieved that with Prema, so you always have to have a slight thing there – ‘achieved with Prema’ as distinct from ‘achieved with MP Motorsport or DAMS or Carlin’ because Prema is so good,” he said.
“If you are the number one chosen driver at Prema, it’s a good drive to be in.
“So that’s the first thing and, secondly, he’s had the audacity to turn down a full race Alpine Formula 1 drive. I don’t care what anybody says, that’s what he’s done and if you do that you’ve got massive self-confidence.
“And so he’s now in a McLaren and, alongside Lando Norris, I’ll be fascinated to see how he goes.”
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