Oscar Piastri revered for F1 trait that Lewis Hamilton was “the king” of

2009 F1 world champion Jenson Button has heaped praise on Oscar Piastri for his notable improvement in race pace by comparing him to Lewis Hamilton.

Piastri made it a hat-trick of wins last time out at the F1 Miami Grand Prix to extend his lead at the top of the drivers’ championship to 16 points.

The Australian benefitted from a Lap 1 incident between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, which demoted the British driver to sixth.

After a number of laps battling Verstappen, Piastri dispatched him and opened up a significant lead over his teammate.

From that point, Piastri controlled the pace from the front of the field to take his fourth win of the season.

Piastri’s latest triumph means he now has more F1 career wins than Norris heading into the European part of the season.

Speaking on Sky Sports’ race coverage in Miami, Button described Piastri’s race pace as “out of this world”.

“As I said to him earlier when I interviewed him post-race, it’s the race pace that is just out of this world now with him,” Button said.

“He’s improved so much in the last year, and he gets into the lead of a race and he’s so good at controlling the race.

“You know, Lewis Hamilton was the king of controlling races from the front, has been for the last decade, and this guy comes along and he’s so calm and collected and that’s the thing for him, nothing really fazes him.

“And that’s what really helps you as a racing driver with Max, he takes the emotional element out of it, which isn’t so good for us, we all love the emotion, but that’s what’s going to help him fight for a world championship.”

McLaren title battle to rumble on

McLaren’s title battle will likely go the distance until the end of the season in Abu Dhabi.

Norris has spoken openly about how he’s struggled with this year’s McLaren challenger, especially in qualifying.

While Norris was unable to beat Piastri in either Saudi Arabia or Miami, it did seem that the Briton had the edge pace-wise.

Piastri continues to impress in wheel-to-wheel combat, especially against Verstappen.

Sky F1 pundit Danica Patrick added: “However, no one knows you better than your teammate, they know your weaknesses, they know your strengths and you’re with them all the time.

“So, this is a very interesting and exciting duo that we’re going to see for the rest of the season.”