Piastri pleased: 'Hopefully we can achieve that together'

In his debut season, Piastri had been close to the podium several times. In Britain, the Australian had bad luck with the safety car, losing his third place to Lewis Hamilton. A race later, in Hungary, Piastri again competed for the podium places, but in the end, his tyre wear was too high and the McLaren driver finished fifth.

Piastri reacts to Brown's statements

McLaren boss Brown also praised his young driver and, like many, called him a future world champion. "Granted, I also want to achieve that, and probably even more so than Zak does. That sort of comment and compliment is similar to what I’ve had in my junior categories, where I’ve always tried to set higher standards for myself than anyone else," Piastri responded in conversation with Speedcafe.com.

Piastri explains why he sets the bar so high for himself: "With that way of thinking, the most pressure, I guess, always comes from yourself, and in some ways, makes dealing with external pressure a bit easier. It’s certainly nice to have that belief and hear those words from Zak, and hopefully we can achieve that together one day," Piastri concluded.