PIASTRI F1 COLUMN: LOOKING FORWARD TO THE BIG TEST OF SPA

Oscar Piastri’s Auto Action column that appeared in the issue of July 23rd 2024

I’m really looking forward to the 14th round of the 2024 F1 calendar at Spa-Francorchamps and the final race before the F1 shutdown period over the European summer.

Spa has always been one of my favourite tracks. It’s old-school and it is a proper test of man and machine where you can push the car to its limit.

Qualifying on low fuel at a track like this is one of the best feelings you can have as a Formula 1 driver. All the drivers have raced here coming up the junior formulae but in F1 machinery, it is a beast.

READ MORE OF OSCAR PIASTRI’S EXCLUSIVE COLUMN IN AUTO ACTION HERE

Like Silverstone and Suzuka, it’s a favourite of a lot of the other drivers that I speak to and one of the best tracks for fans to see the cars in full flow.

There will be no Sprint there this year. The Saturday Sprint was obviously a very special day for me last year coming home second in my third F1 Sprint race. I’ve had other good memories from there going all the way back to Formula Renault so it’s a paddock that I always enjoy returning to.

It is crazy to think that we have already done 14 races and there will only be 10 after the mid-season break. Bahrain testing does not feel that long ago but we are over halfway.

Moments like the podiums at Monaco and Austria stick out as really pleasing but I feel that I’ve been very close to some other really strong results at tracks like Miami, Imola and Silverstone.

The recent triple header across Spain, Austria and Great Britain yielded some good points, especially in Austria and there were a few missed opportunities at Silverstone which could have made it even better.

The car feels in a really good place so we can certainly head into the final 10 races with lots of optimism and with lots to play for. It has performed well at different types of circuits too which is crucial with a few different track profiles still to come this year.

I hadn’t visited most of the tracks in the second part of the calendar before last year but my first experience of the atmosphere at venues like Brazil, Mexico and the United States was awesome and they are super cool places to race at.

The second half of the season involves a couple of triple headers and some double headers so it is vitally important to get some rest and recharge the batteries before those flyaways. There are also big timezone shifts involved so it’s vital to be fresh going into those spells.

I’ll be taking a breather during the shutdown and getting away on holiday. I don’t have much planned at the moment, but I think you’ll find me on a beach somewhere in Europe before training picks back up ahead of Zandvoort. I went away to Portugal this time last year which was a nice way to unwind, and I’ll aim to do something similar this time round.

I mentioned the Olympics in my last column, and they get under way in the coming days. I’ll be supporting all the Aussie athletes competing in Paris and watching their progress.

Thanks as ever for all the support and I’ll be back with my next column after the break.

Take care. OP

Head to Oscar’s official website for the latest news and his new range of merchandise store.oscarpiastri.com 

MAIN image: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

READ THE LATEST ISSUE OF AUTO ACTION DIGITAL HERE 

Don’t forget the print edition of Auto Action available via subscription here. For more of the latest motorsport news, subscribe to AUTO ACTION magazine.