PALMER: How Oscar Piastri turned his weaknesses into strengths and became the championship favourite

We saw last year that Oscar Piastri is very capable of putting results together, as he claimed his first Grand Prix victories in Budapest and Baku, and narrowly fell short in Monza after a well managed race. As much as his talent was apparent, I still wouldn’t have predicted the step up he’s made this year to become the championship favourite after the first third of the season.

Last year, Oscar’s racecraft set him out from his rivals and gave him wins that he had to work for. After all, he only scored his first ever pole position in China this year, so he had to come from behind to seal his wins last season.