Four-time Formula 1 world champion Alain Prost praised current F1 championship leader Oscar Piastri during this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed. The French legend admired the Australian’s clever racecraft and consistency, comparing his approach to his own style on track.
Prost Compares Piastri’s Style to His Own
Prost and Piastri had worked together at Alpine, where Prost was an advisor and Piastri a junior academy driver. Speaking with Karun Chandhok, Prost said: “I like the way he behaves. It’s a little bit like me, thinking about when to do the right manoeuvre for overtaking and being a little bit more clever.”
Prost also highlighted that Piastri’s race management and calculated overtakes reminded him of his own racing philosophy.
Piastri Reacts to Prost’s Compliments
When Motorsport.com presented the comparison to Piastri, the Melbourne-born driver expressed his excitement. “It’s very cool coming from Alain. I’ve had that comparison from a few people with Prost. I see it in some ways.”
Piastri agreed with some of the assessment but pointed out the differences between eras. “I think it’s very different, obviously back in the day there were a lot more reliability concerns, a lot more kind of driver-induced reliability issues as well. So I think in some ways it’s quite different, but the mentality in some ways it’s the same, trying to be consistent.”
Championship Battle with Norris
Currently, Piastri leads the Formula 1 standings by nine points over his McLaren team-mate Lando Norris. However, Norris has won three of the last four races, closing the gap. Some of those wins came at Piastri’s expense, including his penalty at Silverstone and Norris’ one-stop strategy in Hungary.
Piastri admitted that managing risk is crucial in the title fight. “When you’re fighting for first and second, it’s a seven-point difference, but if you don’t finish the race, it’s potentially 18 or 25 points you lose. So you do still have to make sure you finish the races, be consistent and not take unnecessary risks. And I think that side of things is still the same, but probably the reasoning for it is quite different. The mentality is probably pretty similar, which I’d say has worked pretty well in the past.”
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