Mind coach sure Piastri will be F1 ‘superstar’
By JULIAN ALLSOP
The mind coach who helped Scott McLaughlin become such a success in Supercars and IndyCar has no doubt Oscar Piastri is going to be a superstar in Formula One.
Emma Murray – High Performance Mindfulness
“I’m super-excited for Oscar in F1,” says Emma Murray, who is credited with being the ‘secret weapon’ behind Richmond’s three AFL premierships in the past five years as well as working closely with triple Supercars champion, Bathurst 1000 winner and two-time IndyCar race winner McLaughlin.
Murray also works with top cricketers, Olympians and corporate executives.
Apart from all that, Melbourne-based Murray is a mother of four, including a wheelchair-bound son who became a quadriplegic at 13.
She helps sports people perform at their best through advanced present-moment awareness, improved emotional regulation and enhanced focus.
Piastri is embroiled in an F1 tug-of-war between Alpine, the team that has named him as one of its Grand Prix drivers for next year, and McLaren, which is terminating fellow Aussie Daniel Ricciardo a year short at the end of this season.
The fight for Piastri’s services is set to go to F1’s contracts recognition board.
Murray says the young Melburnian, who won the Formula Three and Formula Two ‘world titles’ the past two years and is Alpine’s reserve GP driver this season, “reminds me a lot of Scott mentally”.
“He has a real ability to take what you are telling him and just put it into the car,” Murray has told Melbourne radio station SEN (Sports Entertainment Network).
“Both are really intelligent people who understand why they’re doing what they’re doing, and really understand the mechanics of their mind and their body and how it works – and that helps them manage it.
“I think he’s going to be a superstar.”
Murray said there was “a heap” she could not say about the Piastri imbroglio.
“What I will say is that Oscar is 21 years old and that the way that he has managed a really difficult, political, ugly situation … the way that he has managed that mentally, but also with his emotional control, has been phenomenal,” she said.
“And I think that for us as Australians we should be really excited what that means when he gets in a (GP race) car.
“His ability to withstand that pressure … I think for Oscar the biggest challenge has been not being able to put your side of the story forward.
“Alpine have been able to say whatever they want about Oscar. Media have been able to say whatever they want. And, due to certain legal things that are playing out, he has not been able to have that say.
“Watch this space … over the next few days it will come to light.
“I’m hoping that Oscar will get to … well, it won’t really matter once he gets in a car what the story was.”
Murray’s greatest individual success story has been introverted Richmond superstar Dustin Martin, who has won the best afield award in all three of the club’s recent premierships as well as a Brownlow medal as the AFL competition’s best player.
