Oscar Piastri was to enter F1 with Alpine next season. Acclaimed 21-year-old Oscar Piastri had logically reached the final stage of training by Alpino, which has been supporting him since 2020.
However, due to an afterthought, Oscar Piastri turned down Alpine’s offer and switched allegiance to McLaren. The choice was harshly judged by Enstone’s team, but it was also the cause of the team’s lack of commitment to block Piastri in its own right.
Nico Rosberg hailed Oscar Piastri’s decision as an act of courageous youth, but warned that it was also a double-edged sword.
“A bold move by Oscar, I really think so,” Nico Rosberg told Sky F1.
“Either he’s beating Lando or he’s practically out of the sport, so it’s really, really hard.”
“But he believes in himself, and if he thinks he’s very good, he has to.”
“As for the Oscars, if you are a young driver and you have the opportunity to race for McLaren and you are free to do so, you have to take it.”
“Those opportunities don’t always come, so he did everything right.”
However, Nico Rosberg highlighted the difficult and ultimately unsuccessful task Daniel Ricciardo has faced at McLaren since last season, and the dangers lurking in Oscar Piastri’s confrontation with Lando Norris.
“It will be difficult for Oscar to do well there,” said F1 2016 world champion Nico Rosberg.
“Lando is world class, world champion material. It won’t be easy to go there and do better than Daniel.”
“Ricciardo is a multiple race winner and one of the best drivers in the world, but facing Lando proved incredibly difficult. Oscar is new to the sport!”
“All the signs indicate that Oscar is truly one of the superstars of the future.”
“But it’s really hard to believe that suddenly Ricciardo can’t learn to run super fast.”
“So I think it’s Lando who is acting like a world champion right now. He’s driving incredibly well.”
“So I really think it’s going to be a really big challenge for the Oscars to get closer to Lando next year.”
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Category: F1 / Oscar Piastri / mclaren / Nico Rosberg / Terra Norris
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