Oscar Piastri has admitted that he spends a lot of his free time playing racing video games, claiming that they help hone his reactions.
The McLaren starlet won plaudits for his impressive season in 2023, becoming the first rookie driver since Lewis Hamilton to claim multiple podiums and earning a runaway Rookie of the Year award for his troubles.
What's more, the 22-year-old was also one of only two non-Red Bull drivers to win a race of any kind throughout the season, when he fended off the challenge of champion Max Verstappen to win the Qatar sprint race.
Verstappen himself has recently been filling his winter break with a number of online racing events, and it appears as though Piastri seems to have a similar racing obsession.
Oscar Piastri claimed the 2023 Rookie of the Year awardOscar Piastri shared a fantastic partnership with young Brit Lando Norris in 2023Max Verstappen has recently revealed his love for sim racing
Piastri's hobbies
The young McLaren driver has been talking about what he does whenever he gets some down time away from the pressures of F1.
“A little bit of a mix, I mean firstly just catching up on sleep is like the number one priority," he told F1.com.
"The time off I have is not more than two or three days at a time. So there’s always an element of training in there at some point and just trying to stay in that routine. It’s nice seeing my girlfriend when I have the chance – that’s an important one.
"There’s some gaming as well and I have a simulator at home. I like playing video games as well so some of that. I also have friends around, sometimes I do stuff with them. But yeah, a lot of time with my girlfriend going for walks with her, dinner or whatever. Just spending some quality time."
Expanding on his gaming habits, Piastri revealed: "So I normally play iRacing, that’s my racing game of choice. I haven’t played COD [Call of Duty] for a while now but that’s kind of my other game of choice.
"I have just downloaded the new WRC [World Rally Championship] game and that is a lot of fun and I’m going to say that it’s testing my reactions as well – so it’s good training!”
GP BAHRAIN
29 Feb - 2 Mar
GP SAUDI ARABIA
7 - 9 Mar
GP AUSTRALIA
22 - 24 Mar
GP JAPAN
5 - 7 Apr
GP CHINA
19 - 21 Apr
GP USA
3 - 5 May
GP ITALY
17 - 19 May
GP MONACO
24 - 26 May
GP CANADA
7 - 9 Jun
GP SPAIN
21 - 23 Jun
GP AUSTRIA
28 - 30 Jun
GP GREAT BRITAIN
5 - 7 Jul
GP HUNGARY
19 - 21 Jul
GP BELGIUM
26 - 28 Jul
GP NETHERLANDS
23 - 25 Aug
GP AZERBAIJAN
13 - 15 Sep
GP SINGAPORE
20 - 22 Sep
Gulf Air Grand Prix of Bahrain 2024
Gran Premio de la Ciudad de Mexico 2024 
Grande Prêmio de São Paulo 2024 
Qatar Grand Prix 2024 
Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi 2024 
Innovatieweg 20C