Still, he makes time to downthrottle. He enjoys playing padel, the fast-growing racquet sport, and prioritizes time with his longtime girlfriend, Lily Zneimer, in Monte Carlo, where they live. “We like day trips or weekend trips,” he says, “usually somewhere close to Monaco.” When flying, if he can’t sleep, he’s “working through Breaking Bad. I’m a bit late on it. I watched all of Prison Break last year. And I listen to a lot of house and drum and bass music. Not, like, heavy drum and bass—I draw a line somewhere in the middle of that genre. But those are my go-tos.” Among his playlist regulars: fellow Australian acts like Dom Dolla and Fisher.

A photo of Piastri arriving at the track in Jeddah recently made the rounds in F1’s digital circles—his fuss-free outfit of a plain white tee, khaki shorts, and a schoolboy backpack in sync with his overall comportment. “My look is no-frills,” he says, “and it’s not particularly adventurous.” Nonetheless, his plainclothes aesthetic has become something of a signature: a non-fashion fashion statement that “does have a bit of renown now,” Piastri admits.

It’s becoming more and more clear that the track runs both ways: Piastri may keep relatively quiet about his achievements, but the same seems to apply regarding his frustrations. Instead of worrying, he zeroes in on fixes he wants to make. Take his recent struggles during 2024’s qualifying rounds, which he admits were a weakness. Rather than letting them get to him, he grinded—methodically, tacitly, and in deep discussion with “his side of the garage”—knowing that every tiny tweak counts, and that in the end, when all the engineering is said and done, it’s up to him to find the improvements on the circuit. It’s here that a shift occurs in conversation: His calm, it turns out, isn’t the full picture—it’s the shell around a hyper-focused core. His outlook suggests that intensity doesn’t need to be loud.

“Maybe you save a hundredth of a second by being a bit fitter,” he said. “Maybe you save another by being a little lighter. Maybe it’s one more by making the car’s setup just a little better. On their own, those sound small. But together—suddenly, you’re half a tenth quicker, and maybe that puts you on top. Everything matters.”