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Oscar Piastri

F1 icon singles out 'killer' Piastri trait

Mario Andretti runs the rule over Oscar Piastri in an exclusive RacingNews365 interview

Piastri Qatar race
Interview
To news overview © XPBimages

Oscar Piastri's 'killer instinct' in F1 to deliver in high-pressure moments has been praised by 1978 world champion Mario Andretti. 

Piastri claimed his first two grand prix wins in 2024 to aid McLaren's charge to the constructors' championship, with both coming after decisive overtakes.

In Hungary, he sliced past Max Verstappen and team-mate Lando Norris up the inside of Turn 1 to nab the lead, whilst in Azerbaijan, he pulled a brave move on the brakes up the inside of Charles Leclerc, with both moves being executed cleanly.

Piastri himself was largely happy with his season, but felt qualifying was a chink in his armour, as Andretti heaped praise on the Australian in an exclusive RacingNews365 interview.

"Yes, in my opinion, he has that quality," Andretti told RacingNews365 when asked if Piastri has a so-called 'killer instinct'.

"I really liked what Oscar demonstrated [in 2024], and also the fact that he is a team player, you could see that in Brazil [when he let Norris past in the sprint race].

"He figured: 'It's the end of the season, my team-mate is in a better position [for the title] and he yielded and showed everyone that: 'yeah, you know what, I'll let him by and hope that the favour is returned sometime down the road.'

"To me, that showed a lot of class and awareness of what his position is."

Mario Andretti interview

Andretti also touched on the team orders situation that bubbled up at McLaren over the course of the season, but defended the approach taken with so-called 'papaya rules.'

"If things were easy, they could make it right all the time, but they did their best for what they felt at that moment," he said.

"It is hard to predict end results, but McLaren has got it together with Andrea Stella coming on, and with Zak Brown there, it is really contagious. 

"The tea is in a good place to fight for championships now and in the future, and this bodes well for F1 itself.

"Just look at the beginning [of 2024], and the progress McLaren made, it is something to be very happy about and as a fan watching, credit should go where it is due."

Also interesting:

Join RacingNews365's Ian Parkes, Sam Coop and Nick Golding in the final episode of the year, as Ian and Sam battle it out in the RacingNews365 Big Fat F1 Quiz of the Year! Join in the fun by yourself or with other people to test your 2024 F1 knowledge!

Rather watch the podcast? Then click here!

F1 2024 pre-season testing RN365 News dossier

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