While the technique of 'visualisation' is a common one in terms of sports psychology, McLaren driver Oscar Piastri is clearly not a believer and prefers to be more level-headed and realistic in his approach to F1.
The 22-year-old from Melbourne enjoyed a strong rookie season in 2023, winning a sprint race from pole position and finishing on the podium in two Grands Prix over the course of the year, the first of them in Japan.
But Piastri is not one for looking back and has his sights firmly set on taking his first GP victory, although he's the first to admit that he's not one to "dare to dream" about such things becoming a reality.
“I always try and focus on the next session, or the next weekend, and trying to maxmise that,” he told Australian motorsports website Speedcafe after finishing in fourth place in the second round of the season in Saudi Arabia.
While missing out on a podium was undoubtedly disappointing, Piastri said that that he had other measures of knowing whether he had done a good job on any given weekend.
"I find it very easy to judge whether you’ve had a good weekend or a bad weekend, and whether you’ve gotten the most out of what you’ve got," he explained. "You can always judge yourself, very easily.
“You always leave a weekend knowing [whether or not] we’ve done a good job," he said. “Japan for example we had clearly the second quickest car, so getting on the podium, once Perez didn’t finish, that was kind of the bare minimum.
“It certainly wasn't in my top three, probably not top five races of the year, and yet it was one of my best results of the season," he said. “Sometimes the results don’t always tell the full story of how I feel the weekend’s gone.
“If you’ve got the third or fourth quickest car and you manage to get a podium, the result is the same - but the feeling of how you’ve achieved it is completely different."
Piastri said that in his view, imagining race wins and titles was a waste of time. “In Formula 1, this sport is still very dependent on both car and driver – a lot of car.
“If you’re in the slowest car on the grid, you’re not going to win a race or a championship. It’s as simple as that," he stated. “No matter how hard you try or want it, it’s not going to happen for you.
“I rarely dare to dream about it," he added when asked about winning his first race, or even a title. "Trying to wish those things or dream about them can very easily become demoralising instead of constructive."
Instead, Piastri explained that he remained hard-headed and clear-eyed about those things that were actually under his control, that he can actually influence and achieve.
“I’ll get much more pride and happiness out of focussing on those kinds of things,” he said.
"If you can finish third, go ahead then, go out and finish third. But if you’ve clearly not got the car to win a race, there’s not that much use thinking about it."
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