Sky Sports F1 commentator David Croft has hailed rookie Oscar Piastri as the “real deal” and a “champion in the making”, with the Australian having made a solid start to his F1 career.
After enduring a nightmare at the season-opener in Bahrain where he retired early on, Piastri has certainly delivered for McLaren in the last two rounds.
The 2020 F3 World Champion and the 2021 F2 World Champion made it to Q3 in Saudi Arabia before scoring his first points at his home race in Australia, to the delight of McLaren.
McLaren managed to secure a shock double-points finish at the Australian Grand Prix despite having one of the weakest packages on the grid.
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Piastri has settled into the Woking-based team extremely well and looks set to be a challenging team-mate for Lando Norris, which actually will work very well in the Briton’s favour.
Given how highly Piastri is rated, Norris will likely be viewed even higher if he can consistently beat the rookie, who is the only McLaren driver to appear in Q3 so far this year.
Croft certainly expects the decorated Australian to deliver some exceptional results in his F1 career, with him having already won over McLaren with his impeccable work rate.
“Let’s put this into context, Oscar Piastri was born a month after Fernando Alonso made his F1 debut in the same city,” Croft told SEN ahead of the Australian GP.
“He is the real deal. I like Oscar Piastri. As a human being, I think he is fantastic, he’s really approachable, very chatty – a really easy going guy.
“As a racing driver, he is absolutely the real deal. Like Charles Leclerc and George Russell, he won the two main feeder systems in F3 and F2 in consecutive years.
“He has come into a McLaren team at not a great time for McLaren. They’re last in the Constructors’ Championship. They haven’t scored any points yet.
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“His debut lasted only 13 laps because the car broke down on him, but I think we saw in Jeddah some real fight and some real spirit from Piastri. A great battle he was having with his teammate Lando Norris and with Logan Sargeant, another rookie.
“He will only get better. He has really impressed the McLaren team in the way he has knuckled down, the way he’s learnt, the way he’s adapted to the strains and stresses of being an F1 driver.
“In the years to come we will see some fine performances from this man. He looks a champion in the making to be honest and has done for some time now.”