Premiere with a roof over his head: Oscar Piastri swapped his McLaren for the brute force V8 supercar of Cam Waters and went to the limit
Oscar Piastri has temporarily swapped his McLaren for the brute force of an Australian V8 supercar. On a trip to his home country, the 24-year-old met compatriot Cam Waters, who acted as his teacher with the experience of 18 race wins under his belt.
“To be honest, I probably used to watch more V8 racing than Formula 1 because the time difference was much more pleasant. I was also often here at the drag races with my father,” Piastri reveals about his roots in Australian motorsport.
The track day turned out to be a steep learning curve for the Formula 1 driver, however. Right at the start, he openly admitted that he had no knowledge of how the car worked or where the track led.
From “courtesy mode” to notch hopping
Piastri was encouraged to adopt a more aggressive driving style after the initial drives in Waters’ Mustang. After initially holding back “very politely”, the message was: “Take the kerbs a little harder!” The youngster didn’t need to be asked twice, bouncing the Ford Mustang over the kerbs and putting a smile on the faces of the observers.
“It’s great fun. It’s nice to drive something new. It’s the first time I’ve sat in a racing car with a roof,” concluded the Australian.
A boost after a difficult start to the 2026 season
The outing in the touring car should also serve to refresh Piastri mentally after he had a difficult start to the 2026 Formula 1 season. However, he was able to turn the tide with a strong second place at the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka. Prior to that, the season opener had been disappointing: a crash on the warm-up lap at his home race in Australia and an electrical defect in China had left him without points.
“We just couldn’t do any more in the race today,” he summed up after the success in Japan. “We had a good start, the pace was right. I think I was strategically clever – especially in the way I used and managed the boost.”
Piastri: “Can cause headaches”
Despite the podium, Piastri still sees room for improvement at McLaren: “Our strategy was good, we didn’t flinch too early. The safety car was a shame, of course, but overall we couldn’t have got more out of this weekend. I’m very happy with my performance and that of the whole team.“
However, he remains realistic: ”On the one hand, we still have to find pure performance, on the other hand, the weekend on Lando’s side of the garage was severely affected by many problems. The start of the season was not easy for us in terms of reliability, so we still have a long way to go.”
Piastri’s challenge to the competition is clear, however: “We have shown that If we can get everything together perfectly, we can give the others a real headache.”