Coulthard hails Piastri, backs him to clinch drivers' crown this year
Former Formula One driver and TV commentator David Coulthard praised Oscar Piastri and backed the Australian for this year's driver's title.
Piastri, driving for McLaren, has won four out of the seven races and is leading the championship by 13 points ahead of teammate Lando Norris.
'McLaren and especially Oscar Piastri have been very impressive. It looked like Lando had the upper hand over him last year, but Oscar, aided by my old teammate Mark Webber (Piastri's manager), is the one who stepped up the most from last year,' said Coulthard ahead of this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix.
'I think that unless there's a major change in the performance of the cars, McLaren has the upper hand, and therefore, it's for those two drivers to slug it out. And so far, it's advantage, Oscar.'
The 13-time Grand Prix winner also hailed Piastri's progress in improving his qualifying performance.
'Oscar was a little bit, tenth or so away on average in qualifying. That tenth is a huge amount in this sport. And he's understood, I guess, a combination of how to make the Pirellis work and exploit the car's performance in qualifying,' he added.
While Piastri and Norris are fighting it out, reigning champion Max Verstappen is not far off, just eight points further adrift in third in the standings. The Dutchman showed how dangerous he can still be in a car that is not as quick as McLaren when he snatched the lead from Piastri on the opening lap in Imola last weekend and won the race.
'Max, of course, has been phenomenal, and, you know, how he seized control of the race in Imola for me was confirmation of why he is the world champion. I think he is the driver of this generation right now,' remarked Coulthard.
(FanCode is the official broadcaster for F1 in India)
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