P1 with Matt and Tommy - McLaren's Oscar Piastri on P1!

Episode Date: August 10, 2023

We're joined by McLaren driver Oscar Piastri fresh from his P2 in the Belgian Grand Prix Sprint race! We met him at McLaren HQ to talk about adjusting to life in Formula 1, the fastest rivals he's faced across different disciplines and becoming an F1 meme. Plus, we ask him about that picture of his steak - obviously.You can grab our new merch here!Follow us on socials! You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, YouTube and TikTok. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello everybody and welcome back to the P1 podcast. Today, you might notice we're in a different kind of setting. We've got a special guest, otherwise known as Oscar Piastri. Yes, we are collecting F1 drivers at infinity stones at the moment. And the next one is Oscar Piacery. Oscar, how are you doing, my friend? I am very good. It's nice to be on the podcast.

Oh, it's great to have you. Tommy, of course, you're here as well in your merch. We've got half-scale Oscar Piastri Mini Havis. helmets why don't we just address what's that what's that right there they I mean they're cool they're for sale so anybody who wants to buy them they're available but uh no little gift for you thank you so much we will we will put them very much in pride of place somewhere in our in our background so thank you so much for that so yeah it's it's almost I was actually surprised that we got this opportunity I thought you'd be on your holidays already but here you are still

working hard yeah not quite I was on the sim yesterday and yeah Marketing day today, some media stuff. I'm on holidays in a couple of days, so I'm getting the last bit of work done. Anywhere nice? Going off to Portugal, actually. So it should be nice. Right, right.

Let's dive into, we've got asked questions, basically, from your adoring fans. That clip, by the way, from Silverstone, still resides within it. It wasn't even me. Like, that was just you, a sea of the United Kingdom, just chanting your name.

A day I never thought I would see having British fans chanting my name, Especially with a British teammate who just finished on the poker. But I will definitely take it. I feel like I was almost one of their own. You certainly are. We've got lots of questions. So we're going to dive into them.

That's all good with you. The first one from our amazing P1 community comes in from YV-TH. Describe the feeling of leading your first F-1 laps. So it was firstly very cool to lead some laps. But it's a very different feeling when you've got Max Verstappen in a red ball behind you because you know it's going to be a matter of when he comes past you, not if at the moment. So I was in some ways actually not that nervous because I was not really expecting to keep him behind for eight laps or whatever it was in that sprint. So it was cool, but I knew it was going to be a short-lived moment?

Was there an inkling of you that thought, you know what? Slippery conditions? Could there be a P1 on the car? The first couple of laps before the safety car came out, I was like, okay, I'm sort of keeping him at bay a little bit. But then as soon as the safety car came out, I knew without down force, I was going to be in a lot of trouble. And even after that, it was clear he had a lot more pace. Do you race him differently? Because it's something we've said as fans that people may be race him differently because they know that at the moment,

that Red Bull is so quick that at the moment you kind of have to choose your battles, I guess, when it's worth. fighting another car. Yeah, I think it's like it's always a tricky one because now at certain circuits and conditions like we've been kind of the next closest challenger for him. So there's been occasions where you do try and fight as hard as you can, but then there's other occasions where it's actually smarter to just let him go because like Budapest, for example, we had Perez coming through Hamilton as well. So it's almost smarter in that example to just let him go because you know it's not going to work out. And then you can try and keep. the other two guys behind you, then lose out on spots all three of them trying to fight to the death.

We were an F1 manager last night actually doing one of the scenarios, which is McLaren at Silverstein, and we were doing it about 100 times trying to get you guys to beat Maxisthampton, so that was fun. Was it successful? No. No. Next question is from Piastri-Cla. So, no of those two support. Who do you get along with best on the grid?

I mean I get along well with Lando obviously being teammates Logan as well because we've raised each other sort of all the way through our careers Guan Yu Joe as well race each other in F2 and I'm still getting to know some of the other guys as well so I feel like we all get along pretty well but yeah Lando and Logan I would say is the main two

Is there an F1 driver like WhatsApp group? There is Yeah, yeah there's like the GPDA WhatsApp group group chat. It's not as exciting. Is it fire memes? No. I think everybody has this really grand idea of how exciting it is and people are just taking shots at each other and posting memes, but it's really quite boring. Maybe you need to start the memes. Just throw one in there. See how it's. See how it's true. Maybe yes. Yeah. Next question comes in from a bazoonoo ball.

Have you cooked any more homemade meals? And if so, what are your favorite meals to cook? Loved the steak tweet. I've never seen some. someone's meal makes such a statement in the world of Formula One. Yeah, so I've noticed a trend on Twitter. So even when I was in like F3 and started tweeting about DRS, that got like 10 times the amount of likes as me winning a race. And the tweet of my steak got like double the amount of likes of me finishing in the top three in qualifying at Silverstone. So ignore the PR strategies and everything.

Just post your food. What's the next meal then? Come on. You must have a strategy plan here. I don't know. Like so I'm not that adventurous. That was the first new thing I'd cook for a while. But like normally chicken or salmon,

those like my two go-to meats. I don't know. I've got to think of something new. And I'll be sure to post it to Twitter. And it'll probably be my most like tweet. Clearly the Oscar food channel is the way to go. Yes. Genuinely, about half our questions were about cooking.

Yeah. Food and that tweet. So, yeah. Good times. And from English. Dot Lion, what's your secret talent? My secret talent. Very good question.

It's so secretive that it's a secret to me as well. I don't know. There's not too many quirky talents or things about me. I'm right at cricket, because I heard that you were like... I'm alright at cricket, actually. I'm not too bad. So I guess that's sort of secret. So I'm okay.

Until now. Well, secret talent, I guess I was... Um, remote control Australian champion. Remote control car Australian champion when I was a kid. Remote control car, Australia. Is that a thing? Yeah. That's a true competition.

Yeah. And you were the champion? I was a champion. Wow. I was, I was nine years old. Okay. So. Was it something that's hosted by your family?

No, no, it's a genuine thing. It's like, it's obviously not at the same level of like motorsport, but it's, it's pretty big. You got a trophy at home? Yeah, it's, it's a big. than all my motorsport champions. Amazing.

No, they're committed. Okay, next question comes in from Emea underscore Joshi. Who was your hardest competitor through the junior formulas? There's been a few. I feel like a lot of the guys I've raised

have had different strengths. I would say the quickest guy I've raced, and probably one of the tighter championship battles was Victor Martins, who's racing in F2 at the moment. We had a big championship battle in Formula Renault that year

and he was very, very hard to beat. Had a good championship battle with Logan in F3. But if I was to pick one, I'd probably say Victor, yeah. It's very, very, very quick. Nice. Got a question from Ant Morgan F1. What's the best and worst parts of being an F1 driver from your perspective?

The best part is you get to drive Formula One cars for a living So that never gets old ever The worst part Is probably the off-track Stuff, it can be A little bit tedious at times And can sort of just be a bit repetitive

Like when we do The media interviews after the race and stuff We do that exact same interview Like 10 times after each session And they're not asking you about food And they're not asking you about food No, it's usually the exact same question 10 types I was going to say actually, because it's funny when I watch every driver interview,

that they have such a way of delivering it as if it's the first time they've ever said it. How much training did that take? It takes well. But it's also helpful because it's all usually on different countries and stuff. So you usually only see one or two of them. But yeah, you try and word a little bit differently just in case someone goes, you've just said the exact same thing four times in a row. Even though if it was the same question, you're like, well, have the same answer.

Yeah. The only Nick underscore comes in with, who did you say? you idolize when coming through karting and the junior ranks is that driver on the grid today if so have you told him um i would say i never really had like one specific idol like when i was growing up watching um mark weber was at red bull yeah and he's now my manager which is still weird to say three years working together um but obviously being australian being in a red bull that was very quick at the time i kind of naturally followed him um um I mean, even like some of the guys in the junior ranks above me,

like, you know, Lando was always kind of like two, three years above me winning most things on his way up. So I guess kind of him in some ways and like George Russell and stuff like that. Like they're always just a couple of years ahead, so you're always looking out for them. So it's a bit strange to now have one of them as my teammate and the other one, another rival. You're saying Lando is someone you idolatelight during the junior ranks

makes me feel incredibly old. this question is from not piastri and they said i told twitter if oscar piastri gets a podium i'll get a tattoo dedicated to him so what should i get as a tattoo when you get a podium first question i have that is are we counting the sprint as a podium because if we are this is not a theoretical anymore this is you're getting a tattoo um what tattoo i don't know i don't want to be too cruel and get like a massive skull and crossbones or something random yeah um yeah George Russell doing the thing across the back yes um I don't know something small maybe just a photo of me giving a thumbs up because that's kind of just my okay still still my thing or or the

face of me in the Austria garage yeah um when the jetpack man fell off that was so oh my god your reaction made that. It was brilliant. Next question comes in from Toad VB. Oscar, what is your favourite snack or treat from Australia that you can't find anywhere else in the world? Something chocolate, like Tim Thames, very, very good. That's what I was going to say, yeah. You can get them in the UK somewhere, whether it's legal or not.

I have no idea. Illegal Tim Tams. But you can get them. We also have some other good chocolate bars. is like a cherry ripe. There's actually an Australian like restaurant sort of down the road from where I live and they have cherry rips which are like a chocolate bar

with as you can imagine cherry and like coconut and stuff inside and it's unreal. So I can get that now. It's far too overpriced but that's worth it. Nice. I feel like last time we spoke did you have like your family and friends sending you things from Australia?

Yes. Do you still have that? Is that still a regular thing? Not as much because, and I had told my mum this at the time, but she was just still being nice and wanted to send me stuff, but it usually melts on the way. So every time I would get food and stuff, it kind of was just in one mush that had reset. Thanks, Mom. Yeah, thank you. But yeah, it's the thought that counts.

Very nice. This one's from Harry Bray, and they've asked, and we actually asked this to some other iPhone drivers, so this would be quite interesting. What's one rule you'd change in F1 and why? Is this supposed to be like serious or more jokes? It can be as serious as you like. Okay. I think a lot of other series have the, if you cause a red flag in qualifying, you get your lap deleted rule.

I think that would be good. I've been in series where that's been the case. And I think it just gets rid of a lot of ambiguity on, was it accidentally on purpose? or, you know, it also just punishes you a bit for making a mistake. So I think that could be a good rule. Yeah, why do you think F1 don't have that? I don't know.

In all honesty, I have no idea. I don't know how much it's come up in the last few years, though, and it's almost seemed like such a non-iss issue for years. And in the last two or three years, it seems like particularly moniker every year, this controversy comes up and then with this debate. Yeah. Next question comes in from Aeush B. Desch Muck. What's your favorite McLaren livery of all time?

Oh, favourite of all time. That's a tricky one. I mean, I grew up watching McLaren when they had the full chrome livery on TV. So that has always kind of got like a, that's what I remember McLaren as as a kid. I think now that I understand more of the history, the red and white cars from like the 80s and the 90s. very, you know, very, very special. I mean, quite a simple livery, but very iconic. So, yeah, I think the Chrome for like my nostalgia, but then the 80s and 90s red and white livery for just like global history.

It's quite cool to get to obviously not quite the same livery, but like a throwback to it. And I think a lot of people were loving it. And Lando as well said that it's what sees watch. So you two guys growing up with that livery and then getting to race with it. Yeah, it was very cool. Obviously, it was like a little bit different to how it was originally, but it was nice to have something different on the car.

I think it looked pretty cool. It also made us finish second and fourth. Yeah, everyone's going to start doing Chrome Livert. Exactly, yes. This question is from Oscar Piastri E.1, which is not you. What is your favourite F1 meme? Favorite F1 meme? What kind of a meme in general, I suppose?

I mean, let's be honest, I've had my fair share of F1 memes in my short career. I mean, the one of Magnus and Holkenberg, when they crash into each other and the suck my balls was thrown out. That was quite funny. There's a lot of other good ones. Some I probably can't say. But no, there's plenty of good ones, but I'll go with that one. When you had that moment when you say the jetpack guy and he looked at the camera, did you think immediately as you did that,

you're like, that's going on TikTok everywhere? Pretty much, yeah, because the thing was, so when we watch on the TVs, like in the garage, it's probably like five seconds delayed or at least three. So I had the cameraman in there on my face before he starts actually filming.

And then as soon as the jetpack man fell out of the sky I was like, this is definitely going on to me But of course, I was like three seconds behind when it actually did So I kind of look at the camera to see if it's on or not Look back at the screen and then it goes to me And I was like, well, I can't just sit here and not do anything Because it's pretty obvious I've just seen this guy fall out of the sky And I was hoping he was okay

But yeah, it's been a hit It was so much like a scene from the office It really was it was the zoo Yes, it was pretty spectacular. It was happy to be a part of it actually. It is quite funny how you just have everyone at Formula One. You can see the cat. It's on you and some people just ignore it.

Then they're staring at themselves on the screen. Like, yeah, there I am. But you just accepted it. Yeah, the standard, don't look at the camera and act cool pose. Oh dear. Next question comes from Moksweger 89. What's your favourite track to race at? on or off the current F1 calendar?

So we've just been to my favourite track. Spa is my favourite. It was the first time I'd been back there for a few years at the weekend. So, yeah, I really enjoy it. Like, it's good for racing. It's very historic. It's got a lot of cool corners. Every time you go up very rouge for the first time,

each weekend, it's always pretty damn cool. Yeah, actually, I'd love you to sort of take us in the car as, like, the emotions. And what is it like taking O Rouge and, and Réleon, in a Formula One car for the first time. How would you describe it? I mean, it kind of hurts a little bit because you get squashed. Like, your whole body just gets squashed at the bottom of the hill as you go in the compression. But the first time you take it, like, you can't see the top.

You're literally looking at the sky. It's pretty much if you started doing like a loop-to-loop on a roller coaster and then stopped halfway through pretty much. very special and this year practice was obviously wet so the first time going up there was a little bit sketchy to say the list we're wincing watching it it's it's crazy the on boards yes um this one's from gabriel gris kind of got into it a little bit before but um who's your racing inspiration yeah i would say like i didn't really have one person of inspiration like you always try and take the the best things from each driver if you can like you know obviously through my junior career, Lewis was winning everything.

And, you know, granted, people can say he's in the best car, but he was also beating his teammate at the time. So there's always impressive things to look at there. You know, going back before that, you know, Mark was somebody I watched. And even going back, you know, of course, Sen is very iconic. I drove James Hunt's car a few weeks ago at Goodwood. So I now have a very much bigger appreciation of, how big those people's balls were driving those cars.

So, yeah, like even some of the laps from back there, and you look at them and you say, oh, there's a few mistakes here and there and stuff like that. But to even get close to the limit in those cars is, one, scary as hell, and two, there's a lot going on. So you just take inspiration from everywhere, really. I love that. We were actually just testing you to see how you answered the same question twice,

and it was amazing, brilliantly done. Yeah. Thank you. Have you driven any classic? like F1 cars and things how is that experience compared to Europe like the one you're driving off seat all the time

so I've only driven James Hans car at Goodwood and I did like I literally did the run up the hill and back down every other car I've driven like any race car is one I've raced myself so it's very very different driving that

car compared to what we have now like when I jumped in the car in Hans car I feel like if I punched the side of the cockpit hard enough I could have put a hole in it and and when I put my feet into the pedal box so obviously now we have like how many inches thick of carbon fiber we have when I put my feet into the pedal box the aluminium sheet actually buckled underneath me and that's what's separating my feet from the ground so it of course sprung back into its normal shape but it doesn't feel you with a whole lot of confidence knowing that that's what's protecting you so it's a

a pretty different feeling. It also had a H pattern. I've never driven a H pattern in a race car before. It's like 500 kilos and got like 800 horsepower however much it's got. Actually, I don't think that car has that much, but it had more than enough. I can tell you that. So it's just very different, like much more raw and less perfect compared to nowadays. And that was an enjoyable experience? It was very cool, yeah. Like the noise as well, it's obviously something we don't quite have anymore so the noise was special just the acceleration

naturally aspirated engine so there was no turbos or anything and you can also just jump in the car and start it you don't need like 20 people to start the car for you so no it's a bit more simple and very cool yeah very different times back then

next question from Papa Henry how do you feel about the sprint race podium does it feel like a podium finish or just a precursor? I would say more a precursor. Like you don't get the champagne, you don't get a, okay, you get a plaque that then turns into a trophy, but you don't get the champagne. But also like you've only done a quarter of the race distance as well. So you don't always kind of feel like it's not the same effort for it.

There's points as well. So it's not quite the same, but it's still very cool to at least be in that position. But definitely a precursor. Where do you stand on sprint races, sprint race weekends, you know, you know, all that sort of stuff. There's lots of debate, potentially more and more as we go through the years. Where's your sort of opinion sits on the sprint race weekends? I am still undecided myself, actually.

I feel like the format we've got this year is much better than the original format we had. I think having it is kind of a separate day almost on Saturday with, like, its own qualifying and then the sprint that doesn't impact the race itself. I feel that's quite a good way of doing things, and I think, like, in spa we saw, like I was able to have a really good day on Saturday get myself a good result so sometimes you might cause like maybe not an upset

but slightly different results and adds to the excitement makes Friday more exciting as well because you got qualifying so yeah I think it's quite cool do you feel ready after one practice session well spy we had literally a lap yeah it ended up okay

but if it's at a new track that nobody's been to, it could be pretty difficult. But also for the teams as well, SPAR is already a difficult circuit to set up for because you've got a lot of straits where you're at high speed, but then you've also got O'Ruge where you destroyed the floor, pretty much. And obviously we have like a legality limit on the plank. So you've got to bear that in mind,

and when you do one lap in the rain, so the top speed is a lot lower, you then go into qualifying in Park Fermay, so you can't change the car. So you've got to be very accurate, maybe a little bit cautious on the setup. So it does take a little bit of the engineering side away, but it's a very good challenge, I would say. Awesome. This one is from Schnack Attack.

How has it been having Lando as a teammate? What has been the most important thing that you've learned from him? Hmm. I mean, firstly, it's been good to have Landowners of the TMA. He's been a very good benchmark to have, you know, be able to look at how he drives and stuff like that. It's very useful. What have I learnt from him? A lot of things on and off track. I think just, you know, he's obviously been with the team for a long time.

It's been through the highs and the lows of the team. Now we're on obviously high, but the start of the season was pretty difficult for everybody. And I think even still he was quite good at staying motivated and still pushing the team to get back on track. And I think it's just a really quick drive as well. So it's just good to learn how to drive quickly from it. Absolutely. You've learned quite quickly, especially after spa. It's awesome to see. And the final question, you know, we always finish on serious questions.

questions. Phil Sink, favourite pastry? Favorite pastry? Have you been forced into liking pastry just because of your name? Is that like... No, no, no. I've always been a sweet tooth. It's a weakness of mine. So now there's a pun and another meme of me out there. It's quite fitting, actually. favorite pastry I quite like a pan of chocolate that's usually my go-to I really like chocolate

so it combines two very good things especially when it's warm it's amazing is that a difficult thing when you're a Formula One driver yes very very difficult you're a big foodie yeah yeah I am

especially when like the catering team bring them out and have them for breakfast. If everybody else, it's like... I mean, we were just walking into this room, and you could just see all these plates being served out. Yeah, it's a dangerous, dangerous world. Dangerous world is F1 stuff.

Especially in the summer break, I bet, but it's like, oh, you know, you can have one. Yeah, I can have one, and then you come back in, oh, I'm three kilos heavy. I'm going to behave. Yeah, you've got to behave. Well, thank you so much, Oscar, for joining us on the podcast. It's been brilliant to have you.

Best of luck for Zandvo. We're actually going to be there, so we'll wave to you as you're going around. Thank you. Are you looking forward to Zanvort? It's a trap you've never done? I have you've never done it. I have got very, very limited experience there.

I've done two practice sessions in a Formula Renae car there. So maybe you should bring an orange flag. You really stand out. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll do that. Yeah, yeah. I'll be able to spot you really easy. We'll tell you well anyways.

I'll start you for staffing fans. Thank you so much, Oscar. No problem. Thanks for having me. B1 is a stack production and part of the Acast's creator network.