Oscar Piastri: I don't think I'm the perfect driver

      Oscar Piastri has spent exactly 60 races in Formula 1, this is his third season with McLaren, and he currently leads the World Championship drivers' standings. This year the Australian is performing brilliantly; he has a good chance of the title. He already has six wins, and after the Hungarian Grand Prix he has almost twice as many points as he had at this stage last season.

      "Everything is going great, especially the last six months or so — you couldn't put it any other way," Oscar said in an interview with the championship's official website. "Of course, at the end of last year we achieved impressive success by winning the Constructors' Championship, but this season is unfolding quite differently.

      Before some weekends we already know that the fight for victory will most likely be only with my teammate, and that's a unique situation. And if you also manage to win, that's just great."

      Of course, the approach Oscar is showing is very much to McLaren's liking. In particular, Andrea Stella once said that his drivers, i.e. Piastri and Lando Norris, remind him of the wonderful world champions he worked with in the past — Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso.

      "I'm just interested in hearing stories about what drivers were like in earlier times, especially Michael and Fernando, whom Andrea worked with," Piastri continued. "It's always interesting to learn what exactly made them true masters, and also in what ways their weaknesses sometimes showed.

      I think that when you know that even these people, who won more than one championship, still had their weaknesses, that's in a way reassuring. In general, I don't think I'm the perfect driver. I don't think perfect drivers exist, but it's pleasing when you're compared to the best drivers who have ever raced in Formula 1."

      Piastri is also ready to emphasize the important role Mark Webber, the former F1 driver and his manager, plays in his career: "It's very helpful to have Mark by my side. Of course, he himself has been in similar situations and fought for a title, and I suppose some of those feelings are probably coming back to him now.

      His advice helps me a lot, not only now when I'm competing for the championship, but ever since we started working together… But I also lean on my own experience gained in the years when I raced in junior categories. They were different from Formula 1, but that experience also comes in handy.

      I think our rivalry with Lando has an interesting dynamic. We get on very well, and there's no tension in our relationship at all. On Thursdays in the paddock we can take part in all sorts of silly antics together, but it's clear that as soon as we go out on track, serious business begins. We're both determined to win, so each of us tries to score as many points as possible.

      Here we're definitely on opposite sides, but even if there are some frictions related to trying to get ahead of each other, it never goes beyond the track, which is also good. We always get along fine, and I don't think that will change moving forward."