After winning Formula 2 in 2021, Oscar Piastri’s Alpine collection driver spent a year in which he said he learned a lot from Fernando Alonso. The young Australian driver from Oviedo was full of praise, although not too much, as they are now rivals on the track.
In 2022 Piastri was not very easy. Although he has spent the entire season without a race car, a mistake in his contract with McLaren and another with the Alps has caused more than one headache for the Australian. The training he took from the race as a support and development pilot was worthwhile, since in addition to gaining knowledge of things that can be seen from the engineering wall, Oscar had the opportunity to live in the box with Fernando Alonso. and learn much from him.
“I learned a lot from Fernando, he is a driver who is in a position to win titles and knows what it is to build a team around him,” said the McLaren driver on the official F1 podcast, Beyond The Grid.
“He’s a world champion and it’s enlightening to see him, even though I’m running against him now, I’m not going to get too excited. His ability to think about everything that goes into riding is amazing and inspiring.” he explained.
He also spoke about the 2021 season, when while the F2 championship was underway, he already knew that he would not be making the jump to Formula 1 in 2022. His options were almost non-existent within the ‘Big Circle’. and on the contrary, the Melbourne man admits that he has known much behind the Alpine wall.
“It was difficult to stay outside the year of racing. I think all the drivers want a career and according to the rules there, if you win Formula 2, you no longer have any more promotion categories to participate. In the middle. 2021 I already knew that I would not go up to Formula 1, It doesn’t matter what I’ve done, it’s hard to digest,” he said.
“The reason why I was not in the race was that he had already won everything. This hurts, but I had the role of a reserve driver, which when we could have the best things, with some private tests I learned a lot and in a sense more than I expected. Although I did not run, I went to them I was able to prepare things that you don’t see on television,” he added to conclude.
