McLaren Team manager Benjamin Schidt has likened Ugo Ugochukwu to Oscar Piastri, Afrosport reports.
The 17-year-old American of Nigerian and Italian heritage, is part of McLaren’s junior programme, and claimed a dominant victory in the prestigious Macau Grand last weekend where he led every lap from pole position.
It left his R-ace GP FR team impressed by his performance which Schidt drew comparisons with Piastri who also raced for R-ace GP en route winning the 2019 Formula Renault Eurocup.
“The behaviour of Ugo is always really calm. And I think it’s a key factor for the drivers,” Schmidt told Autosport.
“He’s looking at the data, he is understanding things, and never saying something higher or lower [in his emotions]. He’s just always consistent in his behaviour.
“And I think that is what really makes the difference – putting the emotions a bit away sometimes.”
When asked if Ugochukwu’s approach was similar to Piastri’s, Schmidt said: “Exactly, yeah. He is constant in the emotions, I would say.”
Congrats to McLaren development driver @UgoUgochukwu2 for leading every lap to win the 2024 #MacauGP. Excellent skill and determination to navigate a tricky race. We’re proud!
Ugo picks up the trophy previously won by legends like Senna and Schumacher and is the first American… pic.twitter.com/mOtmZ7AXLy
— Zak Brown (@ZBrownCEO) November 17, 2024
Schmidt added: “I mean, already from the preparation, Ugo was quite impressive,” .
“We know Ugo quite well, even if he was not racing for us [this season], and we’ve tested quite a lot of times with him.
“He’s definitely a good driver, quite talented. He has a huge experience as well, which makes these things a bit easier for him, even if it’s never easy to win here in Macau.
“But he’s definitely a good driver, and we were really happy to share this weekend with him. He just gave us this amazing win. So we cannot be grateful enough for that.”
Ugo Ugochukwu won the CIK-FIA karting European Championship in 2020 before finishing third in British F4 in 2022, then going on to finish runner-up in the Italian F4 and winning the Euro 4 championship the following year.
