Before even turning the wheel of a F1 car in anger, Oscar Piastri was lauded as a special talent who had what it took to succeed in the most cutthroat sport of all.
“He is absolutely the real deal,” said commentator David Croft in March.
“He looks a champion in the making to be honest, and has done for some time now.”
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Those are comments worth revisiting now after Piastri provided the biggest delivery on his promise yet by winning a sprint race, followed by a second-place finish in the Qatar Grand Prix.
McLaren’s stunning redemption has provided Piastri with the tools to compete at the front of the F1 field, but the precocious Australian is displaying a rare talent for how those tools can be used.
If Croft’s words weren’t believed already, then they’re almost impossible to ignore now with Piastri arguably F1’s most in-form driver.
His second-place finish on Sunday behind Max Verstappen saw him named driver of the
day, while the night before he became a race-winner in his rookie season by claiming the sprint in Qatar.
Lewis Hamilton (2007) and Juan Pablo Montoya (2001) are the only two drivers this century to win an F1 race in their rookie season.
Many are still waiting to do so years after their debut season, such as McLaren teammate Lando Norris, who noted at the start of his post-race interview: “First win — earlier than mine…”
Promise is one thing, and consistent points are nice, too, but it’s the winning of races which burns into the memory like nothing else. Norris — who has also watched Daniel Ricciardo win as a teammate — knows that too well.
There is, however, no need to push Piastri forwards into a heated, intra-team battle for not only supremacy, but for respect and reputation.
Any sustained period of strong results from Piastri will inevitably raise the temperature in the McLaren garage by itself.
What feels more important now is to take a breath and acknowledge the minefield on which Piastri earning such profound achievements, as much as the achievements themselves.
McLaren produce insane 1.8-sec pitstop! | 00:38
As mentioned, to win in a debut F1 season is among the rarest feats the sport has to offer.
What’s rare in itself, however, is to earn a shot in F1 at all without letting the chance swiftly slip through the fingers.
Since 2015, there have been 16 drivers who earned an F1 debut but no longer remain on the grid.
Some names may not even register outside of F1’s hardcore fanbase, such as Roberto Merhi, Rio Haryanto or Pascal Wehrlein.
Others are much bigger names who offered great potential — and, perhaps, still do — but have been bumped back to the reserves, such as Mick Schumacher or Nyck de Vries.
The point is that for all its glitz and glamour, F1 leaves in its trail an ugly wasteland of talent that’s chewed up and spat out by the category’s heavy expectations and unnerving impatience.
Mehri, Haryanto, Wehrlein, Schumacher and de Vries all for one reason or another have experienced this in the past eight seasons, along with Alexander Rossi, Felipe Nasr, Jolyon Palmer, Stoffel Vandoorne, Brendon Hartley, Antonio Giovinazzi, Sergey Sirotkin, Jack Aitken, Pietro Fittipaldi, Nicholas Latifi and Nikita Mazepin.
Piastri not only stands firm in the face of that pressure, but is thriving — even with greater expectations than most.
The 22-year-old was a champion in both F3 and F2 categories, which made him highly-rated as a future star of F1.
“I think he’s one of the best drivers I’ve seen in junior Formula racing,” former driver and Sky Sports analyst Karun Chandhok said of Piastri last year.
“He’s up there with George Russell and Charles Leclerc.
“If he can deliver in F1 to the same level that those guys have based on their junior career, then he’s going to have a very strong career.”
‘Hardest race I’ve ever had in my life’ | 00:43
Even more eyeballs were then locked to Piastri given the F1 storm that surrounded his first senior deal.
Piastri looked set to replace Fernando Alonso at Alpine having come through its junior ranks, only for McLaren to swoop on the young gun in a controversial deal that needed to be ratified by a contracts recognition board.
Piastri has since proven he was worth the hassle.
With five races still to go this season, he has 83 championship points to go along with three podium finishes and a win (sprint races included).
Along with joining Hamilton and Montoya in the race-winning rookie list, Piastri is also the first driver since 2010 to put a car on the front row in their first F1 season.
F1 icon Martin Brundle said in August that Piastri “looks as if he’s born to be at the front of F1 races.”
Presenter Lawrence Barretto wrote that: “As rookie seasons go, Oscar Piastri is knitting together a mighty fine one that delivers on his immense promise.”
In his analysis of Piastri last month, Barretto wrote that Piastri has displayed championship-level abilities that has impressed the McLaren garage.
“One of his great strengths behind the wheel is his speed and commitment through high-speed corners, as displayed at Spa when he dominated the middle sector and had a significant advantage over all the field bar championship leader Max Verstappen,” he wrote for F1.
“(McLaren) have seen relentless growth in all areas since he joined the team, particularly in terms of one-lap speed.
Piastri wins & Verstappen clinches title | 01:14
“It’s also been noted that Piastri can understand in near real time where he has lost and what he needs to do to improve it. That is the skill of champions – and one which has proved invaluable to not only help him get up to speed quickly and prove a match for Norris but also help McLaren play catch up in 2023…”
Comparing drivers across different years, teams and regulations is an exercise fraught with danger, and damned to lack any rock solid findings — but it can deliver food for thought.
For example, the highest points tally notched in a rookie season by one of Russell, Leclerc, Carlos Sainz or Max Verstappen was 49 points, achieved by the three-time world champion Dutchman in 2015.
In terms of recent Australians, Mark Webber’s highest finish in his debut season (2002) was fifth for Minardi, while Daniel Ricciardo was pointless for the woeful HRT in 2011.
It’s important to note that none of those drivers found themselves in competitive cars in their debut seasons, and were asked to cut their teeth at back-marking teams.
That in itself speaks to just how highly rated Piastri is in F1 circles.
As does Piastri’s performance when compared to the rookie season of his teammate, Norris.
Norris’ debut season in 2019 didn’t feature a podium finish — unsurprising given McLaren was more uncompetitive than it is now. However, Norris trailed Sainz by 47 points in the drivers’ championship.
Piastri currently trails Norris by 53 points, but the past two raceweeks have seen the Australian stem the flow, and potentially turn the momentum in his favour.
Croft is now only more convinced that Piastri is the “real deal”, pointing to a conversation with his race engineer Tom Stallard, who compared the driver to the 2009 world champion.
“(He) said (he’s in) Jenson Button territory. And he very much was Jenson Button territory,” Croft revealed.
“And it shows why Oscar Piastri is very much the real deal for the future, and one absolutely that needs to be watched out for.”