Oscar Piastri ‘like Senna one weekend and Karthikeyan the next’

Oscar Piastri
The inconsistency of Oscar Piastri was dubbed as “one weekend he was like Senna and the next weekend he was like Karthikeyan” by one fellow racer.
Daniel Juncadella offered this assessment after seeing the highs and lows of Formula 1 up close, having been test driver for Williams and Force India in the past, as well as taking on simulator duties.
Oscar Piastri ‘like Senna one weekend and Karthikeyan the next’
Additional reporting by Pablo Hidalgo
While it is an achievement for any driver to reach Formula 1, this comparison is most likely a slight on Narain Karthikeyan’s career, with his five career points all coming in the ill-fated 2005 United States Grand Prix in which only six cars took the start.
He scored no other points for Jordan that season, and did not add to his tally in two seasons with HRT when he returned to the grid six years later, which somewhat pales in comparison to the three World Championships won by Ayrton Senna.
Back in the present day, Piastri has made a solid start to life at McLaren, with his sophomore year at the team yielding his first two race victories in Formula 1.
He admitted himself that qualifying proved to be a weakness compared to Lando Norris, though, with Norris being offered preferential treatment in team orders as the Drivers’ Championship wore on as a result.
Juncadella, who has signed to be an Aston Martin simulator driver for the 2025 season, explained that inconsistency among drivers can lead them to lose confidence, and that is what makes competing at the top so difficult.
In Piastri’s case, he added he expects “great things from him” in future.
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“It’s different to collaborate with your team-mate when only one of them is able to catch Verstappen in the Championship than when both are really fighting to win the World Championship,” Juncadella said on Duralavita.
“We will see what happens this next season. What struck me about Piastri this past season is that I expected more from him in many situations.
“One weekend he was like Senna and the next weekend he was like Karthikeyan.
“Suddenly he was completely missing. And this is what happened. Suddenly he was disconnected.
“I’ve seen this on many weekends. Sometimes when I was in the simulator afterwards I was listening to the briefings and I noticed he was a bit unconfident and a bit lost.
“That’s what makes F1 so hard. When you switch off for a weekend you are already a bit in the spotlight… and you lose a bit of confidence.
“Piastri is a driver with an impeccable career in the lower categories and I expect great things from him.”
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