Oscar Piastri admits he wasn’t sure Daniel Ricciardo wanted to hear from him before his Australian counterpart called him to discuss their situation in Formula 1. McLaren’s decision to sign Piastri contributed to Ricciardo’s departure from the Woking team and his future in Formula 1 now uncertain.
This scenario could have caused a lot of awkwardness between the two, as their shared nationality added an extra lure to movements in the driver’s market over the summer.
But to ensure there were no tensions, Ricciardo spoke to Piastri and his manager Mark Webber after the summer break to work things out.
Piastri: Respect for Ricciardo now even greater than before
Piastri revealed that he warmly welcomed Ricciardo’s call as he was a bit nervous earlier about whether there would be problems between the two or not. Speaking to the official Australian Grand Prix podcast ‘In the Fast Lane’, Piastri explains how important it was to him that Ricciardo was the first to make the move.
“I was planning on reporting myself but due to the timing of things, he was obviously racing I honestly didn’t know if he wanted to hear from me,” said Piastri. “I thought about what to say, but he got ahead of me. He’s a real professional, I already had extremely high respect for him and the way he reacted only increased it.”
“For me personally, it was great that he came forward like that because I knew he wasn’t mad at me. It really helps me a lot and it was good that he came forward.”
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He adds: “It was a beautiful moment. If I can even come close to matching the success he’s had on track and the character he has off track, I think I’ll do a decent job .”
While Piastri’s move to McLaren is now set in stone, he doesn’t yet know when he will have his first outing for his new team. He is still under contract with Alpine, although he has been released from official duties for the team at Grand Prix events.
There is currently debate over the possibility of Piastri being released early from the contract, which could give him an opportunity to drive for McLaren in an FT1 session. However, nothing has been decided in that regard, so he does not know when he will make his first appearance for McLaren.
“I’m not sure yet and we don’t know either,” he says. “Obviously that’s something we’re discussing with Alpine at the moment. But yeah, right now I don’t know when or what the rest of the year will bring.”
Why Piastri will drive number 81
Piastri has also confirmed that he will be wearing the number 81 for McLaren next season. In addition, the background to his choice explains the fact that he had very limited options at the beginning of his career.
“The 81 was the number I had in karting,” he says. “The story of how I got the 81 isn’t particularly interesting, but I’ll explain it anyway.”
“When I did my first race I had to choose a number for my first race and the kart shop I went to only had ones in stock. It had to be a one or two digit number and I could for obvious reasons not take number one. So for the first couple of races I had number 11.”
“Then we went in, I think it was the Victoria State Championships and someone had already entered number 11. So I don’t know what made me choose 81. But I traded the first one for an eight and it has remained so ever since.”