McLaren's Daniel Ricciardo has hailed fellow Australian Oscar Piastri as "the whole package", as anticipation grows around the prodigy's push to join the Formula 1 grid.
While China's Guanyu Zhou is all but certain to partner Valtteri Bottas at Alfa Romeo in 2022, taking up the only remaining vacant seat on next year's grid, Piastri is likely to receive his shot at Formula 1 in 2023.
Piastri even told Wide World of Sports in September that, although he'd be "very happily surprised" if he got the Alfa Romeo call-up, he was "not really in the frame" and "not confident".
Piastri, who's leading the Formula 2 championship with six races remaining, is likely to become a 2022 Alpine reserve driver and replace veteran Fernando Alonso the following year.
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When asked for his thoughts on Piastri's journey in an interview with McLaren teammate Lando Norris on F1TV, Ricciardo gave the 20-year-old a huge rap.
"I am really excited to see… Oscar do well," Ricciardo said.
"I know what it was like for me when Mark Webber was in F1. When I joined the grid he was still there. It was cool, it was really a cool feeling and (I was) obviously proud to represent Australia.
"Oscar's been killing it this year. (He has) really good race craft, as well. (He) seems to have the whole package right now."
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Zhou is likely to take up Alfa Romeo's spare seat in 2022 despite the fact he's second to Piastri in this year's Formula 2 championship, trailing 178 points to 142.
In another indication of Piastri's superior class, the Victorian is leading Zhou despite the fact it's his first year in Formula 2 and his rival's third.
Piastri and Zhou are both Alpine academy drivers.
Only two drivers have won consecutive Formula 3 (or GP3) and Formula 2 (or GP2) titles as a rookie: Charles Leclerc, who's now thriving with Ferrari in Formula 1, and George Russell, who's now impressing in the same class with Williams and is set to drive for Mercedes from 2022.
The successful transitions of Leclerc and Russell from Formula 2 to Formula 1 have led many experts to question why Piastri is yet to make the jump to the top class.
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Ex-Formula 1 driver Karun Chandhok said he'd be disappointed if the chance to compete in the world championship sidestepped Piastri.
"I really rate Oscar. Honestly, I watched him in F3 but then what he did in F2 – Prema were behind the curb at the start of the season at testing and I think he worked really hard to bring them into contention," Chandhok said on the In the Fast Lane podcast.
"I hope that Oscar gets a decent test program at least with Alpine next year and they keep him on the books. But they need to keep him sharp; that's the hardest thing. If you take a year out from racing… it's tough to keep the fire burning. Oscar is still young so it will be easier, but I really hope that he's still driving lots of things to keep him sharp so that if the opportunity opens in 2023 he can take it.
"You know people like that who are delivering results on track deserve opportunities, young drivers like that, and I'd hate to see him not get a chance in F1 because I think he deserves it."
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