Oscar Piastri has praised Daniel Ricciardo as a “true professional” after the two Australians shared a heart to heart in the wake of McLaren’s decision to change drivers next season.
Ricciardo was sacked from the team with a year to run on his contract and will be replaced by Piastri, who will make his long-awaited Formula 1 debut after a season on the sidelines.
Ricciardo said at the end of August that he hadn’t been in contact with the Mark Webber-led Piastri camp after it became clear he was being replaced, leading some to speculate that a rift had formed between the two grand prix winners and the rising star.
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It was subsequently revealed that Ricciardo had been blindsided by McLaren signing Piastri in June, when the team was still publicly supportive or his attempts to rediscover form.
But after the Dutch Grand Prix earlier this month Ricciardo said he had phoned Piastri to clear the air and congratulate him on his promotion. He also revealed Webber had sought him out to apologise for putting him in a difficult situation.
“This moment should be also really big for him,” Ricciardo said of his Piastri call earlier this month. “I don‘t want to make it a bad situation for him.
“I truly do wish him well. I want him to have a good run in Formula 1.”
Speaking to the In the Fast Lane podcast, Piastri said receiving a call from Ricciardo despite his unclear career prospects was a measure of the man.
“Yes, I think so,” Piastri said when asked whether it was important that he and Ricciardo were on good terms. “That was a really great thing, for Daniel to get in touch.
“I was planning on getting in touch myself, but with the timing of things, he was obviously at a race, and quite frankly I didn’t actually know if he wanted to hear from me.
“I was trying to think of what to say, but he beat me to it.
“A true professional, Daniel is. My respect for him was already extremely high, and it’s only gotten higher in the way he’s responded.”
Piastri hinted at an emotional toll to being perceived to have been pitched against Ricciardo and was relieved to know the relationship had survived intact.
“Him getting in touch like that, it was great for me personally,” he said. “Knowing that there were no hard feelings, that really helps me quite a lot.
“That was good, to get in touch. That was a nice moment.”
“It is a bit of a sliding doors moment, but I think if I can get close to emulating what success he’s had on track and also the character he is off the track, then I think I’ll be doing a reasonable job.”
It’s vital baggage dumped for Piastri after the messy transition from Alpine to McLaren, a situation he hopes he can leave behind him now he has direct sight to his debut at the Bahrain Grand Prix next March.
Speaking about the pressure of the last month, the 21-year-old said it had been an emotional journey to going public with his plans for 2023.
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“I think the first [emotion] was obviously relief,” he said. “It was obviously a pretty stressful time the [contract recognition board] hearing.
“The first was relief, and then obviously happiness.
“It’s something up in working towards since I started racing way back when — I think it was about 12 years ago or 11 years ago now — so to finally know what my future holds firstly and, secondly, that it would be an F1, that was relief and a very, very happy moment.
“There were a lot of feelings going on.
“When I first started I wanted to be a professional in any kind of motorsport and just race cars for a living, but to be able to do that in F1, I think it’s pretty hard to find a better day job than that.
“I’m super excited and very much looking forward to the future, because I want to make sure this is my job for a while now.”
