Sky Sports UK lead F1 commentator David Croft predicts Oscar Piastri will win this year's world championship
Breaking down the championship battle between Piastri and his McLaren teammate Lando Norris after the Spanish Grand Prix, Sky Sports F1 commentator David Croft was confident the Melbourne-born ace had a maiden crown 'coming this way' this year.
– his fifth from the opening nine races of the season.
Hailing Piastri's 'cool and calm' presence on track that the F1 world has been raving about, Croft said his view the 24-year-old would take out this year's title had only strengthened.
'I have not flip-flopped at all … after the first race, I'm tipping Oscar Piastri to win the world title,' Croft said on the Sky Sports F1 podcast, The F1 Show.
'The fact that Karun (Chandhok) and I were on stage in Australia at the time has no bearing on that prediction whatsoever.
'He looks like a champion - and he has looked like a champion for a while. A champion in the making and I think this is the year that it is coming his way, I really do.'
Piastri has continued to earn plaudits from across the F1 world for his calm demeanour and composure under pressure.
Croft said Piastri had the ability to handle whatever was thrown at him and described him as the 'exact opposite' of Max Verstappen, who drew headlines in Barcelona after his run-in with George Russell which cost him a 10-second penalty and the loss of three penalty points.
'The beautiful thing, I think, about Oscar Piastri this season is his ability to cope with whatever comes his way,' Croft said.
'We know he doesn't get flustered. He's the exact opposite of Max on the track.
'The resting heart beat I think is about eight beats per minute from start to finish during the race. He is just so cool and so calm.
'Everything that gets thrown at him, he copes with magnificently.'
Croft said the move from Norris to pick up a tow behind Piastri in qualifying indicated he was 'worried' his teammate had an edge over him over one lap.
'Just a little thing about that first run of Lando's. He picked up a little cheeky tow behind Oscar as he was on his out lap and he followed him all around the final corner,' Croft said.
'Now if I'm Oscar Piastri and I'm being told, 'Oh yeah, by the way, Lando got a tow and he's on provisional pole' and I think, 'Cheeky' was the reply.
'I'm thinking to myself, 'He's worried here. He's worried that I'm going to go out and deliver a lap that he can't replicate. And the reason I know he's worried is because he is trying to pick up a tow already behind me'.
'Fair play to Lando for doing that but the fact is you've got one more run to come and Oscar knows that his teammate is under pressure and the one guy that is going to deny him pole is under pressure to the extent that he need to get a tow behind me so that just eases your pressure a little bit and then he goes out and delivers that lap.
'You use everything to your advantage in life and he certainly did that on Saturday.'
Highlighting the 'mental game' required in qualifying, fellow Sky Sports F1 expert Karun Chandhok said Piastri showed he had 'ice in his veins' in the crunch moments.
'At that stage, the cars are the same. They have spent the whole time dialling in the set-up and at that point, the engineers can't do anymore, the mechanics can't do anymore. It's about the drivers mentally putting it on the line and delivering the lap,' Chandhok said.
'They (Piastri and Norris) are both equally talented and the skill is there. It's having the mental strength to deliver that lap under pressure.
'Lando overdrove, didn't he? He made a few little errors. He went a bit wide in a couple of places and Oscar delivered it.
'You have to say that he's got ice in his veins, doesn't he, Oscar? He doesn't flap.'
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