Oscar Piastri feels any future opportunity to race in other categories will strictly have to be “a summer activity”.
For the majority of F1 drivers past and present, the contracts with their teams mean they are severely limited in what they can do beyond the boundaries of motorsport’s premier racing series.
Two-time F1 champion Fernando Alonso was fortunate enough to compete in the Indy 500, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the World Endurance Championship in 2018 whilst racing with McLaren.
Valtteri Bottas has taken part in the occasional rally event, albeit out of season, both whilst with Mercedes and currently with Alfa Romeo.
After attending Le Mans earlier this month, Charles Leclerc made clear his desire to one day compete in the famed sportscar race, albeit recognising he is hamstrung by what Ferrari will allow him to do whilst with the Scuderia.
Reflecting on the possible benefits of racing other machinery whilst in F1, or whether a driver has to be fully locked into the sport, Piastri said: “I think driving anything can be useful.
“I say that but I’ve never actually driven a race car with a roof on it before! So, I don’t know, maybe it’ll be a summer activity for me!
“But I think you can look at it from both ways. Obviously, F1 is a very different car from anything else, and there’s quite a lot of specifics.
“At the same time, you can learn different things that can help you in situations where you might not expect, so it can be useful, but there’s not much time to do it these days.”
Bottas, meanwhile, recently suggested that if he were to enter Le Mans it would likely be “post-F1”, although additionally indicated a Bathurst 1000 start rather than a trip to La Sarthe was “very likely” instead.
In March, the Finn at least drove the 2016 Bathurst 1000-winning Holden VF Commodore at the Adelaide Motorsport Festival.
But as to the question asked of Piastri as to the benefits of driving cars from other series, he added: “I feel like it’s quite individual as a driver. For me, doing other things sometimes, I feel a benefit. You get another point of view of driving.
“For example, I’ve done a few rallies over the last few years, some test days for it as well. Just the timing needs to be correct.
“I feel like when you drive something else, you can always unlock and discover something. Especially in the (European) wintertime, it kind of keeps you sharp if you do something else.”
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