Mark Hughes: Piastri’s rapid F1 evolution and a Norris contrast

It was a pretty momentous Saturday; in which Max Verstappen clinched his third consecutive world title and Oscar Piastri won his first F1 race. The first was a more predictable outcome than the second but nonetheless, there is something inevitable about the rookie Piastri’s progress.

He’d led a race before (the Spa Sprint), two weeks ago at Suzuka he put himself on the front row of a grand prix for the first time and took his first podium. This afternoon he earned his first F1 pole. Winning this race just ticked another box.

His progress is beginning to look almost pre-destined.

I recall talking to his manager Mark Webber about him when he was still in F3. Obviously, I wasn’t going to get anything other than positive vibes, but one thing Mark said which stood out was: “He’s a Prost, mate. He’s such a thinker and so calm. At first I thought I needed to inject a bit of urgency in him, but actually no, he’s got his own frequency. That’s just where he is.”

The way he combines that serene, unflappable persona with how he constructs his weekend in his rookie season is now very recognisable. Especially when it’s his first time at a venue. It would be easy to get overwhelmed by the raw speed of team-mate Lando Norris which is combined now with a lot of experience.

When you turn up at Suzuka or Qatar, no matter how familiar you might be with the venues in the simulator, confidence through the fast corners is no small thing – and Norris is dynamite through them. Piastri, just like at Suzuka, is utterly unfazed to be a couple of tenths off on the first day, he just works through his routine of learning. A bit of debriefing, a bit of thinking, a bit of looking at the overlays to his team-mate and a night’s sleep – and bang! He comes straight out of the blocks on Saturday bang on the pace.

It was like that here too. Because this was a sprint format weekend, obviously he was still in that first-day learning mode when he had to qualify for the grand prix and he was around 0.15s off Norris (before Norris had his time deleted). But come Saturday’s Sprint qualifying, that gap had evaporated.

His evolution has been placed in a much brighter spotlight as the McLaren has become an ever-more potent weapon since its big Austria upgrade. He was suddenly keeping very heady company but only occasionally were there any giveaways of inexperience. The calm head smooths that away most of the time. That and the talent and the total inner belief in himself. It’s not an arrogance, but the clear assumption that he can do the job is very evident even in his humility.

There’s an expectation of success. He’s just in the process of building it up. Step by step. But those steps are big ones and they’re being taken quickly.

So coming into the Qatar weekend, around a track comprised almost solely of the sort of fast corners the McLaren devours and with only one slow one (the Turn 6 hairpin) at which it might struggle the car – already…