McLaren star Oscar Piastri told he possesses one skill every driver on the F1 grid ‘dreams’ of having

Follow us on Google Discover

Oscar Piastri extended his championship lead by over 20 points after the Canadian Grand Prix, after his teammate Lando Norris retired in the final laps.

Norris had collided with Piastri fighting over fourth place, with the Briton going on to hit the back of his teammate as they powered down the start/finish straight.

Nico Rosberg said it was a ‘watershed’ moment in the context of the title battle, with him going on to back Piastri to become world champion.

Norris admitted he was at fault for the collision, which enabled him to move on quickly, but now the Briton has to close a 22-point deficit during the crucial European rounds.

Discussing the situation on the Red Flags podcast, Davide Valsecchi highlighted one quality that he thinks Piastri showed that every F1 driver dreams of having in Canada.

Davide Valsecchi says Oscar Piastri is ‘ice cold’ under pressure

Piastri lost out to Andrea Kimi Antonelli at the start of the race, having started from third on the grid, and struggled to regain the position.

Norris was recovering from a disappointing qualifying and worked his way up to fifth place before he piled pressure on Piastri.

Valsecchi thinks the Australian showed an impressive trait while keeping Norris at bay, which shows why he is one of the best at the moment.

“Norris, when he’s driving, is passionate. And Piastri was ice cold. He was just perfect. He was behind Antonelli, his teammate was coming back, so you start to feel the pressure: ‘He’s going to get me. I need to overtake Antonelli immediately,'” said Valsecchi.

“He tried. He was not able to do it. And so he waited patiently for his teammate to come. Then he defended perfectly. I appreciate how this man can remain humble and balanced while racing, despite the tension rising so much. That my friend, is a quality that every driver dreams to have.”

Oscar Piastri on trajectory that ‘scares’ rivals

Piastri is only in his third season in F1, but he is already a title contender, having worked on the areas where he often fell short of Norris.

One of those is in qualifying, with Piastri’s average position being second place after the first 10 races of the season. Valsecchi thinks Piastri’s ascension to being a world-class driver should worry rivals.

“We need to also realise that, and that scares me a bit as a Norris fan, Piastri’s trajectory scares me a bit. It’s quite unbelievable,” said Valsecchi.

“He was immediately impressive in his first year in Formula 1. Last year, he got his first victory and then started winning the Sprint races, and then started to be there with Norris in the race pace.”

Piastri will be hopeful that he can continue this momentum heading into the final rounds before the summer break.