Piastri keen to take inspiration from Alonso in his debut F1 season

New Alpine reserve driver Oscar Piastri revealed his plan to learn from main driver Fernando Alonso, saying that he was his yardstick.

Piastri made it to F1 as Alpine’s reserve driver for 2022. He is also the reigning F2 champion, having crushed the opposition on a consistent basis. The driver is aiming to get a seat in F1, but he will have to wait this year.

F2 rules dictate that once a driver becomes champion, he is not allowed to participate again. As a result, the chances of him racing in 2022 are very slim, with most of his work set to be simulator duty.

With him sitting on the sidelines momentarily, Piastri revealed his plan to learn from Alonso, saying that he will be watching the legend keenly to pick up his best traits.

As quoted by Motor Sport Magazine, while talking about the Spaniard’s podium in Qatar, the youngster said, “Obviously it was a great weekend for the team with the podium for Fernando and fifth for Esteban.

“I did a similar kind of thing in Turkey last year. I sat in on all the engineering briefings and did a bunch of media stuff as well, so I learned quite a bit from the engineering side of things in the meetings and stuff.

Oscar Piastri holding the F2 trophy at the FIA Gala. December 2021
Piastri (pictured) at the FIA prizegiving ceremony. Source: planetf1.com

“You can use that to sort of further develop, mainly for my own F1 tests. Also just seeing the way Fernando and Esteban go about trying to improve themselves and the car, especially, that was definitely something I can take.”

Inspiration

“For me, being able to see Fernando, a two-time World Champion…it’s probably a good idea that I follow his lead a little bit,” he continued.

“We all know how great a driver Fernando is and how successful he has been in the past. Even Esteban (Ocon), he’s obviously not as experienced as Fernando, but he’s got a race win under his belt now and he’s certainly taking the fight to Fernando.

“So I think I can learn from both of them. Obviously Fernando has got, I guess, more wisdom, if you want to call it that. So hopefully he sort of takes me on as a bit of a mentorship role. But we’ll see.”

Read more: Alpine open to choosing Piastri over Alonso – “We can find a solution for him”

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