Piastri’s F1 column, published in Auto Action magazine issue 1891, available from July 22, 2024.

I am very much looking forward to the 14th race of the 2024 Formula 1 calendar at Spa-Francorchamps and the last race before Formula 1 comes to a standstill during the European summer.

Spa has always been one of my favourite circuits. It’s old school and it’s a real test of man and machine, where you can push the car to the limit.

Qualifying on a low fuel track like this is one of the best feelings you can have as a Formula 1 driver. All the drivers have raced here before they reached the junior formulae, but in F1 machinery it is a beast.

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Like Silverstone and Suzuka, it is a favourite circuit for many other drivers I speak to, and is also one of the best circuits for fans to see the cars at full speed.

There will be no Sprint this year. The Saturday Sprint was obviously a very special day for me last year when I came home second in my third F1 Sprint race. I have other fond memories of that, going all the way back to Formula Renault, so it’s a paddock I always like to return to.

It’s crazy to think that we’ve done 14 races and after the mid-season break there will only be 10. The tests in Bahrain don’t feel that long ago, but we’re already halfway through.

Moments like the podiums in Monaco and Austria are very nice, but I feel I have also been close to other strong results at circuits like Miami, Imola and Silverstone.

The recent triathlon between Spain, Austria and Great Britain produced some good points, especially in Austria. At Silverstone a few chances were missed, but that could have made it even better.

The car feels in a really good place, so we can definitely go into the last 10 races with a lot of optimism and a lot to play with. It’s also done well on different types of tracks, which is crucial with a few different track profiles still to come this year.

I hadn’t visited most of the circuits in the second half of the calendar until last year, but my first experience of the atmosphere in places like Brazil, Mexico and the United States was amazing. They are super cool places to race.

The second half of the season includes a number of triple headers and a number of double headers, so it is vital to get some rest and recharge your batteries for those flyaways. There are also big time zone shifts, so it is vital to be fresh for those periods.

I’m going to take a breather during the lockdown and go on holiday. I don’t have much planned at the moment, but I think you’ll find me on a beach somewhere in Europe before training starts again for Zandvoort. Last year around this time I went to Portugal, which was a nice way to relax, and I’m going to do something similar this time.

I mentioned the Olympics in my previous column, and they start in the coming days. I will be supporting all the Australian athletes competing in Paris and will be following their progress.

Thanks as always for all the support and I’ll be back with my next column after the break. Take care of yourself. OP

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