The Alonso-style F1 trick that highlights Piastri’s star qualities

OPINION: Oscar Piastri spent the 2022 Formula 1 season sat on the sidelines, but he was clearly paying attention. In Qatar last weekend, the Australian utilised a canny ploy previously employed by a former team-mate to underline why his current team boss has been quick to liken him to a double world champion

Updated Oct 12, 2023, 11:07 AM

One of the quirks of Formula 1’s sprint race weekends is that drivers get to run around on the race track on a Saturday knowing exactly where they will be starting the grand prix from on Sunday.

It is an element that Fernando Alonso in particular has used to his advantage in ensuring that this opportunity to gain an edge is not missed. This was something that came home to me at the Austrian Grand Prix last year as I sat working in the media centre during Saturday’s morning’s then second free practice session, with my desk overlooking the run out of the final corner.

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Author Jonathan Noble

Jonathan Noble is Motorsport.com’s Formula 1 editor. Having graduated from University of Sussex Jonathan worked for sports news agency Collings Sports reporting on F1, F3, touring cars and other sports, with articles appearing in The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, Reuters, Autosport and other publications. In 1999 he moved to Haymarket Publishing to become a senior editor at Autosport Special Projects, and one year later he became Autosport’s grand prix editor. In 2015 he moved to Motorsport Network, becoming the F1 editor for Motorsport.com. He is also a member of the Guild of Motoring Writers, and sits on the FIA Media Council.