{"id":4705,"date":"2025-07-19T02:23:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-19T02:23:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/4705\/"},"modified":"2025-07-19T02:23:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T02:23:11","slug":"f1-news-diffey-sees-championship-fire-in-incredible-oscar-piastri","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/4705\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 news: Diffey sees championship fire in \u201cincredible\u201d Oscar Piastri"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DiffeyLeigh Diffey thinks Oscar Piastri will become Australia’s next F1 world champion. Image: XPB Images<\/p>\n

Speaking with Speedcafe, the long-time NBC Sports broadcaster didn\u2019t hesitate when asked whether the 24-year-old McLaren star could finally end Australia\u2019s 45-year title drought.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he will,\u201d Diffey said. \u201cI don\u2019t really like predicting, but just what I see in him, he\u2019s incredible. He\u2019s absolutely incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Piastri has been in standout form throughout the first half of the 2025 season, and Diffey pointed to recent performances \u2014 including a strong comeback to second in Austria after a compromised qualifying \u2014 as proof the Melbourne native is built for title fights.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe got screwed in qualifying when Gasly spun, so he didn\u2019t get to do his second qualifying lap, what was potentially going to be his best lap,\u201d Diffey explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn his interview afterwards, I think it was David Coulthard interviewing him, he just said, \u2018Well, I can tell you this, I won\u2019t be finishing third tomorrow.\u2019 And I just love that about him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s that fighter, that Aussie fighter, in him.\u201d<\/p>\n

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While Piastri may come across as calm and soft-spoken, Diffey said there\u2019s a competitive fire bubbling beneath the surface, something he recognises from the sport\u2019s greats.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe still looks like he\u2019s about 12,\u201d he joked, \u201cbut that fire inside is just incredible. And I love it. I love the way he races.\u201d<\/p>\n

With McLaren leading both the drivers\u2019 and constructors\u2019 championships, the Piastri\u2013Lando Norris rivalry is shaping as the battle that could decide the season. And Diffey is backing the Aussie to come out on top.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think as motorsport fans we\u2019re being treated to a tremendous rivalry,\u201d he said. \u201cLando\u2019s fantastic, but if I had to put them head-to-head, I think Oscar is going to come out on top.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think mid-season upgrades or after the summer break, I don\u2019t think anybody is turning their season around that dramatically where anybody is going to touch the McLaren pair.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to be treated all the way to the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Diffey also credited Piastri\u2019s manager, former F1 star Mark Webber, as a major asset in his title charge.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the big benefit for Oscar is having Mark Webber in his corner,\u201d he said. \u201cFor everything that Mark endured and learned, he gets to put that all into Oscar.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe good, the bad, the don\u2019t-do-this, the politics, how to duck and dive and how to handle everything.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Oscar has a great car, great team, great manager, great outlook, super talent. Why can\u2019t he be world champion? To me, he\u2019s got all the ingredients.\u201d<\/p>\n

And if it all plays out the way Diffey hopes, he\u2019s already making travel plans.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope that it goes pretty close to the end, and I\u2019m finished with the NASCAR season, and I can book a plane ride somewhere to go and see the first Aussie world champion in 45 years, that\u2019d be pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

How Leigh Diffey landed starring role in F1 movie<\/a><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leigh Diffey thinks Oscar Piastri will become Australia’s next F1 world champion. Image: XPB Images Speaking with Speedcafe,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4706,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,6489,913,2333,6490,85],"class_list":["post-4705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-leigh-diffey","tag-mclaren","tag-oscar-piastri","tag-slot3","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}