£122k-a-week Formula 1 driver declared the biggest surprise of the season
Sky Sports strategy analyst Bernie Collins has suggested that McLaren driver Oscar Piastri was the biggest surprise of the season this year.
Collins was speaking on The F1 Pod and the Australian’s first season in Formula 1 was a topic of discussion.
Oscar Piastri was one of three rookies joining the grid in 2023 with plenty to prove.
The trio comprised of the £122,000-a-week McLaren driver, Logan Sargeant and Nyck de Vries.
Sargeant was coming into the sport directly out of Formula 2 and looked quick for Carlin but finished fourth in the championship behind Felipe Drugovich, Theo Pourchaire and Liam Lawson.
Drugovich and Pourchaire are now waiting in the wings as F2 champions, while Lawson impressed in his short cameo last year.
Sargeant’s first year in F1 wasn’t great, but went better than De Vries’s who lost his seat after 10 races following a brilliant race in Monza for Williams the previous year.
Piastri wasn’t coming into his maiden F1 season off the back of racing the year before but it was no surprise to McLaren that he was instantly fast.
MORE F1 STORIES
F1 Grand Prix of Belgium
Photo by Andrea Diodato/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Although the car let him and Norris down, to begin with, when the upgrades kicked in, both drivers were competing for podiums.
While Piastri couldn’t keep up with Norris all the time in his first season, he does have the bragging rights of winning a race before his more experienced teammate.
Piastri is the surprise of the season for Collins
Asked who her surprise of the season was this year, Collins said: “I think probably my pick is [Oscar] Piastri. I think there was a lot said about how good Piastri would be, there was a lot of hype around Piastri.
“Obviously, there was all of the back and forth about what team he was actually going to join and a lot of competition for him.
“We all rate [Lando] Norris, I think in the McLaren and the McLaren started the year terribly but Piastri brought it to him on a number of occasions, particularly in qualifying.
“He needs to work on his race pace definitely, the points don’t really represent potentially at times how close they were but I think he’s a lot better versus Norris in that car given the hype.”
It wouldn’t be a surprise next season if Piastri is competing even further up the grid than this year.
He finished ninth in the standings and given McLaren were fourth in the Constructors’ Championship, Piastri was only one position below par.
That was because of the unbelievable season Fernando Alonso had but also demonstrates the talent spread across the F1 grid.
Piastri’s aim for 2024 has to be consistent podiums, and maybe even beating Norris to his first Grand Prix win.
Leave a Reply