Prost Admits Piastri ‘a little like me’

Formula 1 legend Alain Prost admits he is impressed with the sport’s current championship leader, Oscar Piastri.

After four consecutive titles for Max Verstappen, F1 looks set to get a new world champion in 2025 – one of the McLaren duo consisting of Piastri or British GP winner Lando Norris.

Prost is fairly sure the battle will not morph into an explosive situation resembling his own intra-McLaren battle with the great Ayrton Senna.

Championship Mentality

“We honestly didn’t care at all about the other drivers or the other teams,” Prost, 70, is quoted as saying by Italy’s Autosprint at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

“I don’t think they’ll have the same problems we did,” the quadruple world champion added.

Indeed, the personalities of Piastri and Norris are very different than the Prost-Senna dynamic, although the Frenchman sees the similarities between himself and the 24-year-old Australian.

“I know Oscar very well,” Prost said. “I was the one who pushed Renault to bring him into the academy a long time ago – they didn’t want to do it.

“He’s a special driver,” he added. “I like the way he operates, which is a little like me – he thinks in the moment to make the right overtaking manoeuvre and to be a little more cunning.

“You know I like him as a driver.”After Norris’ Silverstone win, Piastri’s advantage is down to just 8 points – with a big gap now forming to Verstappen in P3.

“In the championship, it’s very difficult when two drivers are fighting for the title,” said Prost, “but if you have a sufficient advantage over the other teams and the drivers, letting them race and fight is the best thing for the sport.

“If the situation becomes a little closer with the opponents, with a driver or another team, then it will be more difficult – but it doesn’t look like it will be that way.”