Oscar Piastri in the US paddock - Photo: Race Pictures

Piastri's engineer reveals: 'That’s a slightly dangerous thing to feel'

16:57, 18 Oct

byTobia Elia

Oscar Piastri’s race engineer, Tom Stallard, believes both he and the Australian are fully prepared and capable of handling the pressure of the title fight right to the very end.

“We definitely have that Olympic-every-four-years kind of feeling, that feeling that this is our chance”

- Tom Stallard

Speaking in an interview with ESPN, the former Olympic athlete — who has worked alongside the Australian driver for years — said he hopes they won’t let the title slip away: “Hopefully we’ll be in the same position next year, but we definitely have that Olympic-every-four-years kind of feeling, that feeling that this is our chance.”

“That’s always a slightly dangerous thing to feel, because very much handling pressure is about doing what you’re good at, rather than delivering some magic. Normally, when it looks like magic to the rest of the world, it’s actually just because you went out and did your thing.”

He then added: “I think we’re both quite well placed to handle that pressure. You’re right in that the pressure is going to ramp up, but people say pressure is a privilege.

Oscar Piastri in the Singapore paddock - Photo: Race Pictures

Stallard added that the pressure is simply a natural consequence of being in such a tight title fight — not only against his teammate but also Max Verstappen — and that both he and Piastri are more than happy to be in this position.

“That pressure is something that he’s worked for, for let’s say ten years, arguably more, in order to be in a position where he can have that pressure. It’s very rare that you get to be World Champion without being able to ride that pressure. So, I think it comes with the territory, and we’re in the territory we want to be in.”

Stella admits concern after Verstappen outpaces both McLarens in Austin

The Woking team principal said he wasn’t particularly surprised to see Red Bull and Verstappen take pole in Austin. In fact, he now believes the RB21 is once again a car capable of fighting for poles and wins at every circuit left on the calendar.

The Italian admitted some disappointment at not locking out the front row with his drivers, but remains confident the team can bounce back from yesterday’s Sprint Qualifying with another strong result in today’s Sprint.

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