Oscar Piastri believes his style and preference for a measured approach to Formula 1 align him closer to Alain Prost than to the late Ayrton Senna.
A 51-time Grand Prix winner and four-time world champion in the sport, Prost earned himself the nickname ‘The Professor’ during his career due to his strategic and analytical brilliance.
The Frenchman’s smooth and fluid driving style also often stood in stark contrast to the flamboyant aggression of many of his rivals, including the greatest of all, Senna.
The rivalry between the two legends, particularly during their time as teammates at McLaren in 1988 and 1989, became one of Formula 1's most iconic matchups.
When asked where he sees himself on this spectrum of driving styles, Piastri suggested a clear affinity for Prost's approach, especially given the characteristics of F1’s current ground-effect cars.
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“I would say much, much close to Prost in that side of things,” he told Australian F1 website Speedcafe.
“I think with the amount of downforce we have on the cars these days, I think you have to drive them quite straight.
“And with the tyres we have as well, they just don’t like being sideways, so you have to always adapt to what you’ve got around you.
“For me, that’s how I tried to look at my driving style. I think I have a natural way of driving a car, let’s say, but I feel like one of my strengths is being able to adapt to different cars quite quickly.
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“All the junior cars that I drove all had pretty different characteristics,” he added.
“When you look at some of those cars that I drove, the F2 car probably suited me quite nicely with some of the characteristics there.
“In F1, there’s certain characteristics that are nice and some that are not so nice, but you’ve got to be able to drive with all of them.”
Throughout his career, Prost’s precise and calculated approach helped the Frenchman minimize mistakes and unnecessary risks, which kept him out of major crashes.
While Piastri's F1 career is just beginning, some early signs suggest a few common traits between the 22-year-old and ‘The Professor’.
Like the latter back in his day, the McLaren charger likes to gradually build up his pace and only pushes to the limit when a clear opportunity presents itself.
“An element of it was deliberate [in 2023], but not entirely,” Piastri explained, referring to his rookie campaign in the sport.
“I was gaining experience with the car; I was getting more and more comfortable with the car in different conditions.
“Qualifying is when you have the highest grip, the lowest fuel, you know, it’s kind of the best conditions you have and I think in some ways it can disguise some of the handling difficulties that you have.
“That was definitely an element, especially in the first part of the year, where I just felt much more comfortable in qualifying, somewhat ironically, because it’s so high pressure.
“But for me, that’s where I always felt the most comfortable with the car.
“As we got later into the year, that wasn’t as much of a trend, but I think the only thing that was also working against me in the second half of the year was so many new circuits.
“What I gained in understanding the car a bit better at different fuel loads and stuff, I then lost again because I was still learning and circuit.
“To end the year, Abu Dhabi, for example, I felt like I was on the pace; I was just making mistakes in my laps, so I was losing a lot of time in one corner, but the rest of the corners were all good.
“Certainly, the first half of the year, it was a little bit here, a little bit there, and before you know it, you add all that up, and it’s a decent deficit.”
Last year, out of the gate, McLaren’s MCL60 started the season with growing pains, failing to meet performance expectations.
It took a relentless development push by the Woking-based outfit’s engineers to transform the car into a contender.
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This year's MCL38 is undeniably a superior machine. However, the fight isn't completely won. The car has undeniably inherited some of the MCL60's weaknesses, including a tendency to understeer mid-corner and a slight deficit in top speed.
McLaren is well aware of these issues and is actively working on solutions. But for now, Piastri and teammate Lando Norris must adapt their driving style to compensate for these limitations.
Their ability to manage these shortcomings could be a crucial factor in their performance this season.
“Generally, the high-speed stuff suits me well, more so than the slower stuff,” Piastri explained.
“That doesn’t mean it’s just a blanket all the high-speed is good, all the low-speed is bad.
“There’s certainly some quick corners where I was struggling a bit last year and some slow corners where I was strong.
“So it’s not as simple as that, but I would say on average, the higher speed corners were where I came up last year.”
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