{"id":534671,"date":"2026-03-12T03:29:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T03:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/534671\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T03:29:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T03:29:09","slug":"oscar-piastri-trials-tickford-ford-mustang-in-supercars-crossover-calder-park-cam-waters-bathurst-jolyon-palmer-team-18-anton-de-pasquale-australian-grand-prix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/534671\/","title":{"rendered":"Oscar Piastri trials Tickford Ford Mustang in Supercars crossover, Calder Park, Cam Waters, Bathurst, Jolyon Palmer, Team 18, Anton de Pasquale, Australian Grand Prix"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oscar Piastri looked at home behind the wheel of Supercars Ford Mustang, according to Tickford star Cam Waters, after the two drivers took part in a private exhibition day at Calder Park last week.<\/p>\n

Piastri took to the outer-suburban circuit in a special-liveried Gen3 Mustang in a closed-door event with Waters and other Monster Energy-backed athletes.<\/p>\n

Despite reportedly missing a gear early in his drive and preferring not to right-foot brake, the nine-time grand prix winner was quickly up to speed in his 1.3-tonne Ford.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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His rapid adaptation impressed Waters, with whom he shared the track, especially after the nine-time grand prix winner revealed he\u2019d never driver a touring car before.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a bit blown away that he even said that,\u201d Waters said. \u201cBut we got in and had a lot of fun.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was pretty happy he looked after my race car, because I need that this weekend, but he got in and he\u2019s a natural, obviously, and was right up to speed straight away.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018Mate, if you need something for Bathurst, I\u2019ve got a co-drive for you, just don\u2019t tell [co-driver Mark Winterbottom] just yet.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Piastri was similarly enthused by his experience, enjoying his time at the wheel of the rough-and-ready V8 machine.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst time driving a race car with a roof on it, which was cool,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s incredibly different to an F1 car.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it was nice being able to look at kerbs and go, \u2018I can hit that\u2019, not \u2018If I hit that, I\u2019m going to break either my back or something on the car\u2019. That was cool.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust a very different experience \u2014 much lower grip, less downforce, less power. There\u2019s a bit more going on when you\u2019re in the car.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Piastri, as is customary for any Australian driver at the world stage, had previously suggested he might one day consider having a go in a Supercars machine around Mount Panorama, though last week he said it wasn\u2019t something he\u2019d think about until after his F1 career had ended.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the moment I\u2019m very much focused on F1, obviously, and with the calendar we have, there\u2019s certainly not going to be a Bathurst co-drive anytime soon,\u201d he said. \u201cBut who knows. When I retire, maybe I\u2019ll think about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Piastri wasn\u2019t the only F1 driver to sample a Gen3 car last week, with 35-time grand prix starter and 2014 GP2 champion Jolyon Palmer getting behind the wheel of Anton de Pasquale\u2019s Team 18 Chevrolet Camaro at Albert Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a huge amount of fun,\u201d he said. \u201cI had a run as a passenger last year and you could feel the grip and the speed, and it was really impressive, but to actually get behind the wheel is very cool.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrying to slide a little bit, trying to feel the limit of grip, feeling the power the car\u2019s got as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s heavy, it\u2019s got some grunt, it\u2019s got power, but braking distances are all early. The car\u2019s able to ride the kerbs a lot more.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s also way more forgiving. I crashed last time I was here in Formula 1, so I was trying to make sure I didn\u2019t do the same in the last corner.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was honestly so fun to drive.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oscar Piastri looked at home behind the wheel of Supercars Ford Mustang, according to Tickford star Cam Waters,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":534672,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[60147,64,63,689,18503,265397,254296,265398,817,265394,127903,813,816,2105,841,86311,17134,127881,647,86310,673,265395,101416,677,90128,265396,16180,192123,85,51349,140076,660],"class_list":{"0":"post-534671","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-albert-park","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","12":"tag-australian-driver","13":"tag-braking-distances","14":"tag-calder-park","15":"tag-engine-equality","16":"tag-f1","17":"tag-flip-script","18":"tag-ford-mustang","19":"tag-formula-1","20":"tag-formula1","21":"tag-getty-images-inc","22":"tag-grand-prix","23":"tag-grand-prix-winner","24":"tag-jolyon-palmer","25":"tag-mark-winterbottom","26":"tag-melbourne","27":"tag-mount-panorama","28":"tag-new-south-wales","29":"tag-nice-being-able","30":"tag-nine-time-grand-prix","31":"tag-oceania","32":"tag-peter-fox","33":"tag-private-exhibition-day","34":"tag-race-car","35":"tag-rules-shake-up","36":"tag-sports","37":"tag-state-of-play","38":"tag-touring-car","39":"tag-victoria"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534671","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=534671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/534672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}