"I sent him a text yesterday, and he seems OK,” Piastri said. “It was a little bit of a shock, obviously it wasn’t an easy time for him in F1. I think it was much more difficult for him than maybe I expected it to be, going into F1. For me, his potential was much greater than what was on show in F1, for whatever reason it might be.

“But I know first-hand, being his teammate in the junior categories, racing him in basically everything, I know how quick he is. I don’t think the change was completely unexpected. Quite a bold move to put Franco in, I would say, but best of luck to him.

“Just a shame that I think he probably had… For whatever reason he wasn’t able to show everything he’s got, because in the junior categories he was genuinely one of the quickest guys I went up against. So I think his potential is much greater than what some people see.”