Oscar Piastri’s race engineer pinpoints the qualities he reckons will make the McLaren driver a champion

Oscar Piastri’s race engineer Tom Stallard has explained the qualities that he thinks will one day make the Australian driver a world champion.

Since making his F1 debut in 2023, Piastri instantly looked at hime in the sport, scoring two podiums in his first season – as well as a Sprint victory in Qatar – before taking his progress even further during the current campaign.

Amid McLaren’s continued strong form, the young driver clinched his first Grand Prix win in Hungary and has since added a second to his tally in Azerbaijan, as well as standing on the podium a total of seven times.

During an appearance on the F1 Nation podcast, Stallard – who has worked with a number of top drivers over the years, including Jenson Button, Daniel Ricciardo and Carlos Sainz – was asked if he has seen what he needs to see to think that Piastri can one day win the title.

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“Yeah, absolutely,” Stallard responded. “His rate of improvement hasn't really dulled in 39 races. He keeps learning, he keeps improving, he keeps wanting information, going through stuff. We discuss things. He goes and executes it.

“So for me, if you're improving at that rate, what's the limit? The limit comes when that improvement flattens off, and at the moment we've seen no sign of that flattening off, so that's obviously going well.”

Alongside his ability to keep on improving, Piastri’s developing leadership skills have also caught Stallard’s eye.

BAKU, AZERBAIJAN - SEPTEMBER 15: Race winner Oscar Piastri of Australia and McLaren and McLaren — Stallard joined Piastri on the podium to celebrate the McLaren driver's second F1 victory in Baku

“One of the things that world champion drivers do is to galvanise the team and the factory into having great belief, not just in that driver but also in themselves,” the race engineer explained.

“It's a strange environment because you're 22-years-old and suddenly you're a leader in a company of a thousand people, essentially, which doesn't happen to very many 22-year-olds.

“The team looks at you for guidance and support and leadership, and his ability to do that is also really coming on and developing.”

Piastri enters the final six races of the season in fourth place of the drivers' standings – just eight points behind Charles Leclerc in third – while McLaren are now 41 points clear of Red Bull at the top of the constructors' table.