Oscar Piastri takes aim at ‘amazing’ driver radio outbursts as calm persona explained

McLaren's Oscar Piastri.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri cannot understand why F1 drivers feel the urge to vent over team radio, arguing it is “just not convenient.”
Piastri made a strong impression during his debut season in 2023, taking to the podium twice as the McLaren MCL60 achieved huge in-season gains and holding off Red Bull’s all-conquering three-time World Champion Max Verstappen to win the Qatar sprint race.
And Piastri is already starting to muster up a strong fanbase, not only for his driving abilities but also for his refreshing, unflappable approach.
Oscar Piastri ‘amazed’ by F1 team radio outbursts
During the heat of battle, it is common to hear drivers releasing the tension or venting their anger over team radio, which can lead to some entertaining stuff when it gets picked up on the world feed.
However, part of Piastri’s calm, no-nonsense rookie season was a lack of such radio outbursts, pointed out to him on the Eff Won podcast that his “peak silence” came in Mexico when Yuki Tsunoda was going apoplectic after their collision while Piastri had precious little to say.
With Verstappen’s radio antics brought up – often involving squabbles with his long-serving race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase – while Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were also name-dropped alongside Tsunoda for being vocal on the radio, Piastri was asked whether he needs to fight the urge to act the same, or can easily control his emotions.
Piastri said he finds it rather “easy”, as even if he is frustrated at a certain moment, he sees no value in “letting the world know” or calling someone “100 names under the sun.”
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“For me, I find it reasonably easy,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong, I had some some thoughts in especially those moments and other moments through the year.
“But for me, I find it quite amazing that [other drivers launch into radio outbursts].
“We have to physically turn the radio on, it’s not just on all the time, so a lot of these things you could say to yourself without letting the whole world know, which is kind of the approach that I take.
“I don’t say that much to myself when I’m not on the radio, but I think, for me, it’s just been a mindset thing of me yelling at someone or calling them 100 names under the sun.
“It’s not useful for me to do that, especially when I’ve still got a race to go and do. It’s just not convenient.
“Maybe I’ll think it to myself through that corner, but I don’t necessarily need to let the world know.”
Jokingly asked whether he then screams his frustrations into a pillow when he gets home instead, Piastri said: “No, I don’t.
“I fall straight asleep usually or start thinking about too much stuff, but no, I never scream into a pillow or have to punch it or anything. I’m a pretty relaxed guy.”
Piastri swiftly earned a McLaren contract extension during the F1 2023 campaign, keeping him with the team until the end of 2026.
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