"Oscar's brain is a supercomputer," says Oscar Piastri's early mentor, James Sera, who helped the McLaren driver navigate his early career in his native Australia. It is an unusual response when asked about the McLaren Formula 1 driver's most crucial characteristics.
When posed the same question, the man who oversaw Piastri's career when he moved to the UK latches onto the same theme. "It is his feel, his dexterity - the supercomputer; the brain," responds Rob McIntyre.
Two people independent of each other using the exact same term to characterise the 23-year-old might be somewhat unusual. But perhaps it is not so unusual, for Piastri at least.
The Melbourne native’s ascent to the top of the F1 podium has been so rapid that it is perhaps understandable to forget he is only in his second season. Not only that, but F1 observers have also been blindsided by the incredible levels of maturity that defy his age, alongside a remarkable degree of calmness.
When McLaren was trying to manage the outcome of the Hungarian Grand Prix, Piastri was measured in his reaction to the situation. More supercomputer than superhuman, processing away behind the wheel and detached from emotion.
Piastri is an undeniable talent and one that those who know him best saw at an early age when he raced radio-controlled cars in Australia, winning the second class and progressing to the top level when he was nine years old. It was then, around 2011, when he first met Sera having been sought out by Piastri's father, Chris, to help with his fledgling career.
“A mutual friend involved in karting and RC racing had told Chris to come in and see me about getting Oscar into karting, as at the time, Oscar was around nine years old and was racing RC cars,” Sera tells Autosport. “I was running a business in karting, selling, servicing and coaching drivers all around the country. So after a very short conversation with Chris, he committed to buying Oscar his first go-kart.
“I was then involved in Oscar's early career between the ages of nine and 14 before he left for Europe to race for Ricky Flynn. Oscar was a great kid. From the moment we met, it was a great relationship and we went away karting most weekends of the year together.
"It was clear he should race some more in Europe and although there were no F1 talks that early, I definitely encouraged his family to send him to Europe, which for a 14-year-old is no easy feat" James Sera
“Back then, he was exactly as he is now, calm, quiet and extremely willing to learn. He has a persona like no other kid I've ever been involved with, and because of his outstanding attitude, he is just such a likeable kid. I was blown away by his calm attitude and how extremely intelligent he was for his age.”
Sera says he quickly identified characteristics that set Piastri aside from his competitors in Australia, and recognised that he would need to move to Europe to develop his career.
“I knew early on that Oscar had something different to the other kids I had coached and mentored here in Australia,” he adds. “He got an opportunity to go race the I2014 AME International Final, where Oscar grabbed third place. From there it was clear he should race some more in Europe and although there were no F1 talks that early, I definitely encouraged his family to send him to Europe, which for a 14-year-old is no easy feat.”
Piastri leaving Sera's stewardship to move to the UK with his father led to a chance encounter with McIntyre, who had previously run karting teams, worked in scouting programmes unearthing talent and as a driver manager.
“My background is professional go-kart racing,” McIntyre says. “Having worked in motorsport all my life in various guises, my real passion is working in karting because it's more about the driver, and you can see what's going on.
“Typically, I go to two or three big international races a year, even now, and I go watch. So, back in 2016, I went to a European championship race and [when I] saw this little Aussie kid batting round and I thought, 'Okay, yeah, you're quite good'. He was driving for Ricky Flynn Motorsport. Ricky was my best man at my wedding and I said 'so, the little Aussie kid is pretty fast. What do you know?’
“Oscar would have been 15. Rick basically said, 'yeah, really fast, very technical, super-smart'. When I looked at his data, the way he uses the steering and the way he uses pedals, he was so dexterous. He's got an amazing feel. I thought, 'this kid is going to go really well in a car'.
“At the time, I was helping Arden International, owned by Gary and Christian Horner and they had a young driver academy. So I was helping those guys out, doing a little bit of mentoring, a bit of spotting. So I got Oscar's father's telephone number, rang him and said, 'hey, you don't know me. This is what I do. This is my background. I work with Arden International when you want to go in a car, give me a shout'. Simple as that.
“We met for the first time. We had lunch outside of Hertford where I used to live because they had a small apartment in Hoddesdon the next town down. We talked, because of my knowledge about intelligent electronics - I'm not an engineer, I should say - but I did my due diligence. I tried to understand what Oscar's father's business was. So straight away, there was a bit of rapport, and also my racing passion and enthusiasm.
“Oscar sat there as a 15-year-old eating his fries and not saying a word. Chris was looking for somebody to give him a little bit of guidance. So we started to talk. We started to set things up. I got him into Arden and he went on the simulator, and the guys at Arden like, 'wow'.”
Despite initially impressing the Arden engineers on the simulator, it was not until his debut in a car that he did something that set him apart. McIntyre recalls the moment he realised Piastri was a class above: “We organised for him to go to Anglesey and he'd never been in a racing car before. We had an old BRDC F4 car, it was damp. He went out straight away and the left past the pits on his second run, there were five big seagulls sitting there. As Oscar comes roaring past, they limber into the air and he caught one of the seagulls with his wing mirror and it took the wing mirror off!
“When he came in, we looked at the data and he had not even lifted. The Arden engineers kept saying to me, 'he's definitely been in a car before'. I had to say 'guys, he hasn't been in a car before'.
“They set a benchmark time for him; Jack Aitken had been in the car and set a time. They said, 'listen, if you can get within three seconds at this time, happy days.' By the end of the day, he was faster than the benchmark.”
With their son's career looking promising, Piastri's family had to make the difficult decision. While their son was racing in Europe, his father needed to return to Australia for his business and family commitments. The future F1 ace was offered the choice of returning to Australia, but decided that he would remain in the UK at boarding school to further his education and racing career.
"We knew if we went to Euro F3, we were going to be with a mid-level team, it was going to cost €900,000" Rob McIntyre
McIntyre adds: “Chris started to talk about how it was going to work. For all the success of all the Australians [at home], you have to race in Europe if you're going to make it. So he said 'okay, can he go to school here?' He went Haileybury College and a lot of racing drivers went there, because they are missing so much school.
“Oscar came to the UK in September 2016 and went to Haileybury College; I was just down the road, not that he needed me, because he was unbelievably independent even as a 15-year-old. Very calm, cool and collected, just really sensible. Occasionally I'd get a call saying a flight has been cancelled and can I help.
“Through 2017, Chris started to talk to me about a bit more help and asked me whether I would I be interested in working solely with Oscar and help on the journey. The British F4 season went unbelievably well. He won loads of races. The championship went down to the last weekend and Oscar finished second. Jamie Caroline won the championship.”
Piastri juggled his racing career with his education, skipping a testing day at Silverstone while he sat a GCSE exam before turning up for the races. With McIntyre by his side, he progressed through the junior categories, opting to race in the Formula Renault Eurocup in 2018 rather than the European Formula 3 championship that launched Max Verstappen directly to F1.
“We knew if we went to Euro F3, we were going to be with a mid-level team, it was going to cost €900,000,” explains McIntyre, who placed his charge at Arden for 2018 before joining R-ace GP for 2019. “The following year, guess what's going to happen? We're going to do exactly the same again. You've got to be in the right team.
“So I worked with [R-ace GP boss] Thibaut de Merindol. With a new car, the new engine, he won the [2019] championship and my phone is ringing non-stop. People offering him drives for very little money and then [Prema team principal] Rene Rosin contacted me.
“Oscar and I went to Prema and had a fantastic meeting. When I got back into the hire car, I asked Oscar, 'what do you think?' And he said, 'it's a no brainer, isn't it?' And absolutely it was because they'd come 1-2-3 in the [Formula 3] championship.”
It was at that time McIntyre and Piastri's father decided to seek some extra help in masterminding the racer's career to F1. They turned to nine-time grand prix winner Mark Webber and his wife, Ann Neal, to ensure the money they had ring-fenced for Piastri's career was being spent well.
“Even though the top teams want you, you still have to write a big cheque and trying to find sponsorship or support outside of your own nation is impossible,” McIntyre continues. “Oscar was doing some work with [exercise physiologist and sports scientist] Simon Sostaric, who knew Mark. So through Simon, I asked Mark and Ann if they want to get involved.
“We went to meet Mark and Ann and Chris is very, very laid back. This is early 2019 and by now the Prema deal is all done and dusted. But Chris turned up in a shirt - I've never seen him ever in a shirt! We built a relationship with Mark and Ann and then we did the deal and so through F3 and F2 we used their contacts.”
Piastri's success in the Eurocup had opened up a spot with the Alpine Academy. He'd finished his GCSEs and A Levels and was now free to concentrate on his racing career. He travelled with McIntyre during the COVID-hit 2020 season, when he won the Formula 3 title. He repeated the achievement in 2021 with victory in the Formula 2 championship.
By now his achievements had caught the eye of McLaren, who succeeded in poaching Piastri from Alpine by offering an F1 seat for 2023. Piastri has since thrived at McLaren under Andrea Stella and with the benefit of Webber and Neal now guiding his career, he is being moulded into the superstar F1 driver seen today.
“He's super calm, super composed,” concludes McIntyre, who has now taken a backseat. “To say, what are his strengths through the period of time that I worked with him? His brain, and it's his composure. When you put that together, he's able to see the big picture.
"Mark and Ann have been fantastic mentors, but he is the same as the 15-year-old that arrived here from Australia" Rob McIntyre
“When he's talking to the engineers, the engineers say XYZ, he will go out and do XYZ. [It is] his ability to replicate and do that. He can also go back X amount of years, and talk about a particular corner on a certain lap, it's just mind-blowing.
“When Oscar wins, you'll see there's a smile and a little bit of jubilation. But straight back [after] he looks at what could I have improved?
“Mark and Ann have been fantastic mentors, but he is the same as the 15-year-old that arrived here from Australia. He's just got that passion and enthusiasm for it. Only he does not show it externally.”
