Why McLaren had to vet photos of Australian cricketers' meet-up with F1 star Oscar Piastri
When Oscar Piastri invited a handful of Australian cricketers to tour the McLaren factory outside London last week, insiders at the leading F1 team were in a spot of bother.
The entire visit was kept under wraps, with all photos and videos from the day subjected to a strict vetting process by McLaren staff.
In the high-stakes world of Formula 1, even a casual snap in the wrong place on the factory floor can pose a risk.
With rivals like Red Bull and Ferrari always on the lookout for technical edges, McLaren's strict media control was designed to prevent any unintended leaks from inside its highly secretive Woking facility.
Therefore images were carefully reviewed with officials on alert for any sensitive details pictured.
But now, with clearance granted, the cricket-meets-F1 crossover has finally been made public. For 19-year-old rising Test star Sam Konstas, it was everything he dreamed of.
The youngster couldn't believe how relaxed Piastri was, given his position atop the table in arguably the world's most high-pressure sport.
'He's 24. First in the Formula 1. I don't know how he deals with so much pressure on him,' Konstas said, as first reported by Code Sports.
'But full credit to him.
'He's a legend of a bloke. He's a massive cricket fan. Having a bit of time with him was a huge honour.'
Piastri gave the Australians a guided tour of the McLaren HQ and even demonstrated a few hot laps on the team's simulator.
'It was a great experience – obviously witnessing all those amazing cars,' Konstas said.
'We actually jumped on the driving simulator and Oscar was driving a few laps and he showed us how it was done.'
While Usman Khawaja and Nathan Lyon kept things steady in the sim, Mitchell Starc was the surprise outlier — clocking the fastest virtual lap among the group.
Konstas wasn't quite so confident in his ability behind the wheel.
'I was terrible. I was crashing all the time. It was good fun. I was definitely the worst one,' he laughed.
'Usman Khawaja was like a little kid. We were trying to get him off and he just kept playing.'
Lyon, who has kept in regular contact with Piastri in recent years, joked about the need for discretion after seeing what McLaren had behind closed doors.
'The facilities that they have and the way they go about it is pretty phenomenal,' Lyon said.
'I don't know how much I can say, Red Bull might be listening.'
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