Oscar Piastri: the best F1 rookie since Hamilton — or even better?

In 2023, additional grand prix weekends as well as the bonus points on offer from sprint races and fastest laps also means there is much more opportunity for drivers to accrue a larger points haul.

If Hamilton’s 2007 season had been scored on the modern scale, the Briton would have a grand total of 253 points after 17 races — good enough for a distant second in the current drivers’ standings while being 170 points ahead of Piastri’s current sum.

So while another sprint race victory and second-place finish at COTA would see Piastri surpass the Briton in total rookie points scored, Hamilton by far outscored him, while coming close to winning the 2007 world championship.

But points are far from the full picture: Hamilton’s 2007 campaign and Piastri’s 2023 season — both for Mclaren — are far more similar than they appear — indicating the heights that this year’s rookie might be capable of, as well as the relative success of his debut campaign.

 

Hamilton vs Piastri: the greatest rookie ever? 

Both Piastri and Hamilton entered F1 under extraordinary pressure.

Following the unorthodox events of his 2022 silly season — in which Alpine and McLaren aggressively competed for his signature — Piastri was under scrutiny from the very first testing session, his performances examined for justification that the entire ordeal had been worth it.

He had his work cut out initially after McLaren missed “multiple pre-season targets” and delivered a car that would run as a perennial back-marker throughout at least the first quarter of the 2023 season. To boot, Piastri was immediately up against Norris, whose pace has already put him in the frame as a champion in waiting.

Conversely, Hamilton’s explosion onto the F1 scene was helped massively by the title-ready performance of the MP4-22; a car which began the 2007 season as one of the best on the grid. To that mix was added the young superstar alongside reigning two-time world champion Fernando Alonso — the pressure to perform was high.

Nine consecutive podium finishes to begin his rookie year — including debut wins in Montreal and Indianapolis — were more than enough to confirm Hamilton’s potential, and further victories in Hungary and Japan put him agonisingly close to a title in his very first F1 season.

Throughout, Hamilton remained astonishingly calm, while his illustrious team-mate flailed under the immense strain of a third-consecutive title challenge. Alonso’s critical lap-41 error at Fuji ultimately cost him a world championship.

We’ve seen a familiar tranquility in Piastri, who has remained positive and seemingly stress free while his team has caught up to the midfield — likely a frustrating situation for a driver who won consecutive titles in Formula renault, F3 and F2.

But ever since the MCL60 has become a viable front-runner, Piastri’s rookie season has become much more comparable to Hamilton’s own — and there’s an argument that it has been even more impressive than Hamilton’s 2007 season.

 

How Piastri could become the greatest ever F1 rookie

Life in Formula 1 can be particularly tricky for rookie drivers, especially if they’re not given the right tools to do their job properly right away. An accurate indication of their ability is how quickly and consistently they can maximise the performance of their car in comparison to their team-mate.

In 2007, Hamilton was quick to adapt, besting Alonso for the first time in Bahrain on just his third appearance in an F1 car — the Briton finishing a close second while the Spaniard came home a disappointing fifth. This gave Hamilton the confidence to go hunting for more as, over the next eight races, the rookie would finish ahead of the reigning world champion five times — including a win at the US GP where the pair shared a heated battle.

But as the season slowly drew toward its climax, Hamilton was less consistent in maximising the potential of the MP4-22 — his performances marked with mistakes. At the European Grand Prix, heavy rain caused chaos and the slightest show of inexperience from Hamilton flung him into a gravel trap, while Alonso delivered a masterful victory from second on the grid. A bounce-back win in Hungary reinvigorated Hamilton’s title aspirations, before he fell behind his team-mate once again in Turkey, Italy and Belgium, failing to finish on the podium twice while Alonso scored a critical victory and two third-place finishes.

A final rookie error in China — infamously driving into a gravel trap while entering the pitlane — hampered Hamilton’s title chances before another incident-plagued race in Brazil — not helped by a gearbox issue — saw Kimi Räikkönen take the title.

Until now, Hamilton’s performance has stood out as the gold standard of a rookie season. But Piastri has arguably gone one better.

In a car which has been both inconsistent and at times difficult to drive — especially during the early stages of his rookie campaign — Piastri has only failed to reach the chequered flag twice: retiring on debut due to an electrical issue, and then once more in Belgium after controversial contact with Carlos Sainz.

Outside of that, the Aussie has been almost perfect in pushing his McLaren as far up the grid as possible.

While the team struggled, Piastri’s performance remained comparable to Norris. He beat his far more experienced team-mate in Saudi Arabia, Spain and Canada and never finished more than two places behind him throughout the first eight races of the season.

As the upgrades arrived, Piastri has looked comfortable at the sharper end of the grid.

Since the 2023 British Grand Prix, where Piastri benefitted from a major McLaren upgrade, he has finished inside the top five four times — in eight grands prix, while making three podium appearances (including grands prix and sprints). Flashes of brilliance in Belgium and Singapore — where he showed he could both compete at the front of the field as well as fight his way through it — prompted Zak Brown to extend his contract midway through his rookie campaign; showing the faith McLaren has in him already.

The Aussie’s sprint triumph at Losail has undoubtably been the highlight of his rookie season so far, made even more impressive by the dominance of Max Verstappen and Red Bull in 2023, as well as the close performance of the trailing field that has left few opportunities for even the best drivers on the grid to fight their way to a podium finish.

The fact Piastri has beaten the likes of Norris, Alonso, Charles Leclerc, George Russell, Esteban Ocon, Pierre Gasly and Hamilton to the punch in his rookie campaign speaks volumes — not to say his team-mate.

If the McLaren-Piastri combo continues on its current trajectory — following his double podium appearance in Qatar with more top three finishes or even a debut grand prix victory — the Aussie is on track to end 2023 as the greatest rookie F1 has ever seen.

Hamilton’s ’07 run may have a few more wins to its name, but Piastri’s consistency combined with his raw speed and ever-lasting positivity has allowed him to maximise the potential of a previously underperforming McLaren and help return it to the front of the grid — perhaps a much larger achievement than jumping into a title-ready car and then falling agonisingly short.