MONTREAL :Oscar Piastri could stand alone after Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix as the only Australian to win six or more races in a single Formula One season, but the 24-year-old has bigger and better statistics in his sights.
Only Jack Brabham and Alan Jones, world champions both, won five in the same year although their tallies reflect the fact that there were far fewer races then to a campaign than the current record 24.
Piastri, who leads McLaren teammate Lando Norris by 10 points in the championship, has won five of the nine so far and been on the podium in the last eight.
It will surprise nobody if the remarkably calm driver is back on the top step at Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Sunday.
“It’s a nice stat to have,” he said of matching the maximum season haul of 1980 champion Jones and late triple title-winner Brabham.
“I’d be happier with the stat of joining them as world champion.
“To have five wins in nine races is beyond what I expected really, even with a very competitive car,” he added, saying there had also been a few other moments he wished he could rerun.
“Whilst those stats are cool, that’s ultimately not why I’m here,” he said. “I’m here to try and win even more races and fight for a championship. So I think there’s some cooler statistics to come hopefully.”
COMPETITIVE VERSTAPPEN
Piastri said he expected Montreal to be a continuation of how the season has gone so far, with champions McLaren winning seven of the nine and Red Bull’s reigning champion Max Verstappen the other two, and also good for him.
“Max will probably be competitive again. This was a very competitive race for Mercedes last year and I expect them to be quick again here,” he added.
“But you never quite know whether that’s going to be matching us or challenging in qualifying especially, or a tenth or two back. Hopefully it’s not a tenth or two ahead but you just never quite know exactly where the challenge is going to come from.
“Monaco was a strong race for Ferrari and there’s some similarities to here but we said that 12 months ago and it wasn’t a great race for them.”
Piastri qualified fourth with Norris third on the grid in Canada last year but the Australian finished fifth with his teammate runner-up to Verstappen.
“Somewhat ironically the races that were pretty bad for me last year have been the best so far this year, and some of the ones that were good last year haven’t been great,” he said.
“So we’ll see how we go but I’m expecting it to be a good weekend…I’ve been very comfortable with the car the whole year and I feel like I’m in a good place at the moment so I’m expecting it to be strong.”
