Oscar Piastri has built a reputation as one of Formula 1’s most composed and intelligent drivers. On the racetrack, where every fraction of a second matters, he pairs razor-sharp precision with instinctive control and an extraordinary calm under pressure. There is an elegance to the way he drives, making immense speed and complexity appear almost effortless. In person, somehow, he is even more impressive.
We met backstage at McLaren Designed to Race: Front Row, shortly before the catwalk show began. Just beyond the auditorium, the atmosphere was electric: designers were making last-minute preparations to unveil their interpretations of six decades of McLaren through fashion, while guests began to gather for the show. Lando Norris was all smiles, moving through the room with an easy warmth and a megawatt grin that lit up the space, happily stopping to greet people and chat.
Lily, Oscar’s girlfriend, stayed for the entire evening, visibly supportive of the project and the people behind it. Long after the final look had left the catwalk and the crowd had begun to thin, she was still there, admiring the designs and lingering at the bar over cocktails with a friend.
Meanwhile, inside the otherwise empty auditorium where Oscar was waiting, there was a pocket of calm.
Oscar was sitting on a Papaya sofa when we arrived. He could easily have remained there. Instead, he immediately stood to greet us, striding across the stage to shake our hands and welcomed us with a warmth and politeness that made us completely feel at ease in his company.
Oscar is taller in person than expected, and gentler too. Ardent, softly-spoken and completely present. He is lean, with the compact athletic build you would expect from a Formula 1 driver: broad through the shoulders, narrow at the waist, and boasts perfect posture.
His features are clean-cut and youthful, with a strong jawline, clear skin and dark hair that falls naturally away from his face in a soft centre part. There is a distinct contrast between his polished demeanor and the physicality of the sport he competes in.
His neck and shoulders are noticeably strong, a subtle reminder of the extraordinary forces his body is trained to withstand, but he is refined, with long limbs and an easy, relaxed posture that gives him an understated elegance.
He was dressed with the same understated ease that seems to define him: a grey long-sleeved collared top layered over a crisp white shirt, left open at the neck, exposing that impressive Formula 1 neck, with black slacks. Effortlessly cool, never trying too hard and the epitome of charming.
Oscar Piastri is his own man, he carries a sense of self-possession that reads even more strongly in person than it does on camera. There was limited time before the show, but Oscar never made the conversation feel rushed.
With fashion at the centre of the evening, I began by asking what a look inspired entirely by Oscar Piastri would need to have.
“I think the most important thing would be that it has to be comfy,” he said. “That’s the biggest thing for me. Obviously, if it looks good, even better, but if it’s not comfy, I’m not going to wear it.”
It is a wonderfully straightforward answer, and very Oscar.
That same practicality comes through when the conversation turns to the students taking part in the project and the significance of being given such an extraordinary opportunity early in their careers.
For Oscar, success is inseparable from the people around you.
“When you’re first starting out in anything, it’s very hard to do things by yourself,” he told me. “You need good mentors, teachers, whatever it might be.”
The people who matter, he explained, are those with experience who are not only willing to help you learn, but prepared to push you to learn too.
For somebody whose profession is fundamentally solitary once the visor comes down, he speaks often about collaboration.
When I asked which era of McLaren design he would resurrect, his answer came quickly: chrome.
“That’s how I remember McLaren as a kid,” he said. “We’ve been lucky enough to have a few chrome liveries in the last few years, so I would probably go back to that.”
Design, naturally, became the thread running through our conversation. Formula 1 and fashion share an almost obsessive relationship with minute details, and when I asked which part of an F1 car he appreciates purely aesthetically, Oscar was less interested in choosing a single component than in the constant evolution of the car itself.
“Every time we have upgrades to the car and it can change the look of the car, that’s always exciting,” he said.
Intriguingly, he added that some of the most radical-looking pieces are not necessarily those producing the biggest performance gains. But in a sport where every millisecond and milligram counts, technical importance will always trump visual drama.
His own race suit, however, could apparently benefit from one practical adjustment. McLaren papaya may be instantly recognisable, but one of Oscar’s favourites was the all black special edition race suit.
“For that reason alone I’d probably go for more black on the suits,” he laughed. That understated humour runs through the conversation, particularly when I ask whether the precision that defines his driving also shapes his personal style.
“Definitely not.” Off-track, he says he is “pretty with the flow”, he laughed before adding, with characteristic self-deprecation: “Normally it’s whatever I find that isn’t a complete fashion crime. As long as it’s somewhat socially acceptable, then that’s good enough for me.”
For the record, I told him he looked fantastic and I meant it.
“Thank you,” he replied, smiling coyly.
Oscar has previously said he could have become an engineer, so I asked which department at McLaren he would choose to spend a day inside. Aerodynamics.
He admitted he probably would not understand most of what they were doing, before adding, with obvious enthusiasm, that “they do some pretty crazy stuff.”
Our time disappeared far too quickly. Soon afterwards, the lights went down and the catwalk began: a spectacular collision of speed, history, experimentation and young creativity. Six decades of McLaren had been dismantled and reimagined in fabric, silhouette and movement.
What struck me afterwards was that Oscar did not simply disappear once his obligation was complete. He stayed. He took photographs. He spoke to the creatives. He gave his time to the students whose work had filled the runway, offering them the same attention he had given us backstage.
There is a famous coolness to Oscar behind the wheel: controlled, clinical, almost impossible to rattle. In person, though, that composure reveals something warmer. He is witty, gracious and quietly self-assured, with the kind of ease that cannot be manufactured.
On track, he makes extraordinary speed look effortless. Away from it, his presence is just as compelling – understated and entirely his own. He is proof that presence does not have to be loud to be unforgettable. Perhaps that is the real Oscar Piastri – quietly magnetic and authentically, unmistakably himself.
Designed to Race: Front Row is available to watch free and exclusively on the McLaren Racing Club, available to download on Google Play and Apple stores.
