British Formula 1 driver Alex Albon says he’ll happily deny Australian young gun Oscar Piastri his first championship points on Sunday if Williams and McLaren find themselves in a battle for 10th.
McLaren is yet to claim a point in the team championship after two rounds, while Williams has just one, after Albon claimed 10th spot in the opening grand prix at Bahrain.
Oscar Piastri is ‘one of the guys we’re trying to beat’, says Williams driver Alex Albon.Credit:Getty Images
Piastri qualified ninth fastest at Saudi Arabia last round, and although he failed to finish top 10, he showed he’s going well enough to press for points at Albert Park this weekend.
But Albon says there’ll be no love lost if he finds himself vying with Piastri in the midfield on Sunday.
“As much as you guys support Oscar, he’s one of the guys we want to try and beat,” Albon told The Age.
“Perhaps McLaren are on the back foot a little bit this year, so if we can steal that point off Oscar, then we’ll try that.”
Albon said he expected Piastri to handle the fanfare at his first home grand prix, given how well he put aside the controversy of walking out on Alpine for McLaren through the middle of last year.
The 21-year-old Melburnian spent 30 minutes signing autographs and taking photos for fans outside Chemist Warehouse in the Spencer St Outlet Centre on Wednesday, before being whisked away to maintain a low profile heading into the weekend.
“It’s Oscar-mad [in Melbourne]. Good for him,” Albon said.
“When it was my first home race, there were three or four other drivers that were British.
Alex Albon is chasing a top-10 finish for Williams on Sunday.Credit:AP
“Oscar’s coming in as the only Aussie, so I’m sure there are more eyes on one person. Maybe I’m wrong, but there’s a feeling like there’s good energy in the way that people are treating Oscar. I think Australians are generally very friendly people, at least the ones that I know, and that makes you relax.
“The other side of things is, for example, you can feel under pressure and the fans can put you under pressure.
“More than anything, if you look at last year and the situation that unfolded with him getting into McLaren, for him to come in and already be performing well shows his character already.
“I’m sure he doesn’t have a problem [handling pressure].”
First-year Williams driver Logan Sargeant came through the ranks with Piastri and raced on the same team with him multiple times, most recently in F3 in 2020 where Piastri won the competition and Sargeant came third.
“We have been teammates four or five times throughout our careers from karting to F3 – we have a really good friendship and a lot of competitive rivalries,” Sargeant said.
“We have always been in the same category, same time racing each other.
“Always a very good rivalry, always a healthy relationship and it is a pretty cool to see us both in F1 now.”
Williams F1 driver Logan Sargeant with Melbourne Rebels players Reece Hodge and Andrew Kellaway at a media opportunity at Gosch’s Paddock in Melbourne on Wednesday. Credit:Luis Enrique Ascui
Sargeant said he found he needed to focus on his own preparation as he adjusts to the demands of his first F1 season, but he will try to see what Piastri faces as the home driver considering the American will face his own homecoming in Miami in May.
“I will keep an eye on it as I will go to Miami in a couple of weeks which will be similar to me. I feel like we are all so busy doing our own thing and stay ready that is it hard to keep up with what everyone else is doing,” Sargeant said.
“It is just nice to share the track with him again and continue our rivalry. It’s a bit different in F1 as it is a lot more car-performance [based] but it is nice to be able to race against him again.”
Meanwhile, Haileybury Brighton’s former head of campus Scott Doran has recalled Piastri’s modesty as he pursued his motor sport career.
Piastri started at Haileybury in year two, before moving abroad to Haileybury College in the UK at the end of year nine to make a real fist of his dream.
Doran, now vice principal, said Piastri – who also represented the school at cricket – never put a foot wrong as a student.
“You couldn’t fault him,” Doran said.
“He was hardworking, determined, had a good sense of humour about him, but he did the right thing. He was a really fine student.
“Whatever he had a go at, he gave 100 per cent, he was serious about it, and he put in the work. It’s no surprise to us to see him do so well in his racing.
“He was humble, never one to brag or show off. He was always a humble young lad.”
Doran said Piastri’s first Australian Grand Prix gave Haileybury the chance to show their students what could be achieved if they chased their dreams.
“We’re immensely proud of Oscar, but we’re immensely proud of all our students,” Doran said.
“We’re lucky for a school of our size, we’ve got lots of terrific examples to share with our students and our community, but we’re particularly proud of Oscar at this time of his career, and driving in his first home grand prix, we wish him well.”
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