Oscar Piastri not bothered by ‘cherry-picked’ statistics after Azerbaijan GP victory
Oscar Piastri has been the lead point-scorer in the past seven races by quite a margin.
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Oscar Piastri (via IMAGO)
While Max Verstappen and Lando Norris have been fighting tooth and nail against each other, Oscar Piastri has been chipping away at their lead in recent races. With a strong run of races under his belt, people speculated that the Aussie is currently the best driver on the grid owing to his sudden surge in performance. However, Piastri was not excited by such things as he deemed his skill to not be the sole reason for his success.
Oscar Piastri has appeared as a strong pillar in McLaren‘s constructor’s bid so far this year. Though he remained out of contention for the drivers’ championship realistically, his recent form suggests otherwise. He has scored a massive 135 points in his last seven races, while his teammate has struggled to cross even the 100-point mark.
Subsequently, when he was asked about his stance on his recent form, the Aussie was quick to discard any speculations as he deemed such stats to be cherry-picked to push a motive.
Yes and no. Someone else has probably scored the most in the last eight races. For me, cherry-picking these kind of races [statistics] doesn't mean much to me. We've had a car that's been very quick and consistently quick in a lot of places. And even if we've not necessarily been the outright quickest everywhere, we've been in with a chance everywhere.Oscar Piastri said in a interview as quoted by RacingNews365
The 23-year-old elaborated that such statistics don’t mean a lot to him. He reasoned that the MCL38 has been a strong car in the seven-race stint and along with his determination, he has been able to score a huge haul of points, so the scale is not tipped entirely toward himself.
Oscar Piastri knew it was now or never in fight with Charles Leclerc
Charles Leclerc lined up on pole at the start of the Baku race and defended his lead heading into turn one. The Monegasque then disappeared into the distance as the first stint came to an end. However, the Aussie made inroads on the Ferrari driver in his second stint on the hard tires and was the outright pace-setter on track.
After the race, Piastri revealed that he knew that getting past Leclerc was essential in his bid to win the fabled race.
I tried at the start to get infront but I didn't have the pace. When I saw I had a little bit of extra grip and knew if I didn't pass at the start of the stint I'd never pass him. Big launch but managed to pull it out. One of the best drives of my career.Oscar Piastri said post race
Piastri elucidated that he had extra grip on the hard set of tires. Moreover, fearing that this advantage would taper off quickly, he decided to divebomb Leclerc into turn one with a 20-plus meter difference. Regardless, Piastri’s lunge into turn one worked as he got past the Monegasque driver and amassed his second-ever F1 race win.
On the other hand, Max Verstappen currently has a 106-point lead over the Aussie. So if Piastri has to win his maiden championship this year, then he would need to outscore Verstappen by approximately 16 points every race. Thus, Lando Norris currently has better prospects of becoming the 2024 world champion.
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Geetansh Pasricha
(772 Articles Published)