Oscar Piastri is in with a brilliant chance of claiming his maiden World Championship with McLaren this season.
The Australian is currently leading teammate Lando Norris by nine points at the top of the standings, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen a further 97 points back in third.
Piastri has looked the calmer McLaren driver throughout much of the campaign so far, as reflected by his season-leading six race wins.
Photo by Marcel van Dorst/EYE4images/NurPhoto via Getty Images
However, the Australian has revealed that there is one interesting trait he shares with Norris, as well as the other 18 drivers on the Formula 1 grid.
Oscar Piastri reveals that all Formula 1 drivers blink ‘in basically the same spot around a lap’
In a video recorded with McLaren’s social media team, Piastri analysed how and where Formula 1 drivers blink when driving on track, including the consequent distance they cover with their eyes closed.
The 24-year-old explained, “Basically, all racing drivers blink in almost the same spot around a lap.
“You obviously don’t really want to blink when you’re in a corner, especially when you’re pulling high [g-forces]. So, you normally try and blink on the straight.
Piastri then calculated that a single blink while travelling at 200km/h equates to travelling 14 metres with your eyes closed.
The former F2 champion then added: “I feel like on a qualifying lap, you wouldn’t blink very much, but in a race lap, probably a bit, so I’m going to say [blinking] five times a lap, so I reckon you would cover 70 metres a lap with your eyes shut.”
Oscar Piastri is ten races away from making Formula 1 history
Such has been the dominance of McLaren this season that only Norris stands in Piastri’s way of a maiden Drivers’ Title.
While the gap between the Papaya pair is close, Piastri should take great confidence from the fact that he has often had the upper hand on his teammate in both qualifying and races this year.
Indeed, the Australian has arguably been the grid’s standout and most consistent performer this season, with Piastri claiming numerous records as a result.
Should he maintain his gap to Norris after the summer break, he would then set the best record of them all, becoming just Australia’s third ever Formula 1 World Champion, and their first since Alan Jones in 1980.
While this might place added pressure on the young man’s shoulders, it should also give him greater motivation to get the job done and cement his place in the sport’s history.