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Oscar Piastri's road to victory in F1

After Oscar’s first visit to the top step of the podium, we’re looking back at the journey he’s taken to get here

Reading Time: 14.6 minutes

“First win… whoa.” Oscar Piastri isn’t a particularly demonstrative individual. As he crossed the line in Hungary to win his first Grand Prix, he thanked the team for a very quick car, made the required switch changes for his in-lap, and then, channelling his inner Kimi Räikkönen, gave his one-word opinion (half-word, really) on becoming the 115th driver to taste victory in a Formula 1 Grand Prix.

Afterwards, in the press conference, he drew a ripple of laughter from the assembled media, by explaining that yes, it was a very big deal for him, but no, he wasn’t going to be waving his arms around.

“I don't think it's fully sunk in yet," he said. "And I mean, I'm not really the kind of person to get overly emotional. So, I don't think you're ever really going to see that from me, but it's an incredible feeling. It’s something I've dreamed of since I was a kid.”

So, what’s a nice boy from Melbourne doing winning a Formula 1 race? Oscar Jack Piastri’s ascent to the pinnacle of motorsport has been rapid. Whether you see the single-seater ranks as hurdles to overcome or a greasy pole to climb, he’s risen to every challenge… and quicker than most. We’re having a look back at Oscar’s route to the top.

Oscar celebrates

Oscar with his first Formula 1 Grand Prix winning trophy

1. The early years 

There’s a tendency to assume F1 drivers begin their careers in karts. While it’s certainly true that most of them will be familiar with the smell of a two-stroke engine, only a few head into karting after first racing a remote control car. Oscar was one of those, competing at the national level in Australia, before the karting bug bit and he had to hang up his handset.  

Oscar was a leading light of the Australian Karting Scene in the middle of the last decade, finishing second in the 2014 Australian National Sprint Kart Championship (Junior Clubman Class), and then third in the 2015 Australian Kart Championship, KF3 class.  

Like many South American and Australasian drivers before him, Oscar had a tough decision to make. He took it, making the move to the Northern hemisphere to compete at the highest levels of the karting world. He based himself in England joined Ricky Flynn Motorsport (also Lando’s former team).

He was a consistent rather than spectacular finisher across the 2015 and 2016 seasons, finishing 10th in the South Garda Winter cup, eighth in the WSK Final Cup and sixth in the CIK-FIA World Championship, OKJ class. Having adjusted to life at an English school, comfortable racing across Europe and having held his own against many of the names that would dominate the junior formulae over the next few years, Oscar was ready to move up to single-seaters.  

Oscar F3

Oscar moved to England when he was 14 and joined Ricky Flynn Motorsport (Lando’s former team)

2. Single-seater success 

Looking back from the vantage point of a Formula 1 cockpit, the junior grades of motor racing form a pyramid, with success at each stage allowing a young driver to climb higher, onto a smaller, more rarefied level. Only a few are going to reach the apex and, looking back across the history of F1, there’s no guarantee that those who set out fastest will be there at the end. Oscar’s progress through the karting ranks was steady rather than spectacular – but when he got into single-seaters, that’s when the afterburners ignited. He found an affinity with open-wheel racing few possess.

Oscar’s Formula 4 journey started with a winter series in the UAE, followed by an entry into the British F4 Championship with Arden. He finished on the podium at Brands Hatch in his first British F4 race, had his first victory at Oulton Park and eventually finished the season in second place, as top rookie, with six victories and six poles.

Oscar stuck with Arden for 2018, moving up to Formula Renault 2.0 in Eurocup. It took a while for Oscar to get a handle on the larger, more powerful machines, and he finished the season eighth – but his results across the year were trending upwards, with a first podium mid-season at Spa, followed by a double Hockenheim podium at the penultimate event.

For 2019, he moved to champions R-ace GP, and won the title after a thrilling year-long battle with Victor Martins, that culminated at Yas Marina, under the lights for the final rounds of the calendar. Oscar took the title in fine style with a nerveless victory in the first race, jumping Martins off the line to take and hold the lead to the flag, followed by a measured drive in the second race to bring the title home. “2019 Eurocup Champion – sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?” said Oscar in parc fermé, in the same understated manner we're familiar with. He then went on to list all the things he thought he’d done wrong in the race… very much setting the tone for all subsequent post-race interviews.

LN F3

Oscar made his single-seater debut in 2016

3. Stepping out on Grand Prix weekends 

Oscar finished on the podium in 11 of the 19 Eurocup races in 2019, with seven wins, five poles and six fastest laps. It was enough to attract the attention of Prema Powerteam and secure a seat in the 2020 FIA Formula 3 Championship on the F1 support card. It was a busy time for Oscar, as he also joined the Alpine Academy and gained Grand Prix winner and WEC World Champion Mark Webber as his manager. F1 was clearly in his sights. 

The 2020 F3 Championship wasn’t really what anyone imagined… but everyone was glad it happened at all. The Covid-affected season was shortened to 18 races across nine events, at seven European circuits… and if Oscar’s eventual triumph in Eurocup had been tight, F3 was going to be even tighter. At the first round, in Austria, Oscar had a wheel-banging first corner before going on to victory – which works well as a metaphor for his entire season. In a year where everyone down to eighth in the Championship won at least once, he only took two victories, but consistency across the campaign was enough to secure the title in a season that went down to the last lap.  

Oscar went to Mugello for the final round with a lead of eight points over teammate Logan Sargeant, and Théo Pourchaire also in genuine contention. His lead, however, was offset by a looming five-place grid penalty, exacerbated by a disastrous Qualifying that saw him start 16th. He didn’t score in the Feature race, which meant he went into the final Sprint level on points with Sargeant, and nine ahead of Pourchaire – but starting behind both.  

The 28-car F3 grid tends to feature… robust… first laps, and the layout of Mugello virtually guarantees incident. It went badly for Sargeant who was punted off at Turn 2. Oscar needed to finish in the points and not lose too much ground to Pourchaire. It was an agonising race with Oscar balancing the need to stay out of trouble against the necessity of making his way through the field. Pourchaire took a podium but Oscar made his way to P7 and took the title by three points. Characteristically, his first words crossing the line were commiserations for Sargeant.  

Oscar F3

Oscar beat Théo Pourchaire (L) and Logan Sargeant (R) to the Formula 3 title in 2020

4. The final step 

Oscar stuck with Prema for the move up into the Formula 2 Championship for 2021. The final tally, with Oscar crowned Champion by a margin of 60.5 points, makes the season sound rather less fraught than the previous two. In reality, things were nip and tuck all year in a high-quality field. Once again, Oscar needed to hold his nerve going into the final event, eventually getting over the line with third place in the first Sprint, followed by a victory tour with a win from pole in the season-concluding Feature.  

2021 was an unusual year for Formula 2, with 24 races – 16 of them Sprints – spread across eight venues, with only Silverstone and Monza from the traditional sequence of European circuits featuring, and Monaco being the other non-flyaway event. Oscar started well, with a victory in Bahrain in Sprint 2 – but found the going tough. He didn’t visit the top step again until after mid-season – but maintained a steady string of points and podiums that kept him in the hunt.

He took the lead of the Championship at Silverstone. Oscar had notched his first pole at that round and something clicked, because he took every pole that followed. He also won the final four Feature races of the season and another Sprint, on the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. 

The book was closed on Oscar’s junior career at this point, his stats stacking up with the very best. He’s one of only six drivers to win GP2/Formula 2 as a rookie (alongside Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton, Nico Hülkenberg, Charles Leclerc and George Russell) and one of five to do the GP3/F3 – GP2/F2 double in consecutive seasons (Hamilton, Hülkenberg, Leclerc, Russell). He does, however, stand alone in winning Eurocup, F3 and F2 in consecutive years.  

Oscar Through the years

5. Rapid rookie  

Oscar’s future was clearly in an F1 car but, like many in his position, there was needed to be a period in the waiting room. Some F2 Champions go off to gain some experience in Super Formula, others might keep their hand in with sportscars. Oscar’s 2022 programme, however, was spent as Alpine’s official reserve driver, but was also in our reserve pool for the season.  

After being confirmed as a McLaren driver for 2023, he ended 2022 doing private testing in the MCL35M before making his public debut in papaya at the post-season Yas Marina test.

Oscar’s performances across 2023 were terrific. He coped astoundingly well early in the season with a difficult MCL60, and scored his first F1 points at his home race, and in his home city, at the Australian Grand Prix.

His confidence grew in line with improvements to the car, narrowly missing out on a podium in Silverstone, before finishing second in tricky conditions for the Spa Sprint. Before the Japanese Grand Prix, a long-term contract extension was announced, keeping him at McLaren until at least the end of 2026. He underlined what a very good piece of business that was for the team with his first official podium, next time out in Japan, finishing third. He bounced from that directly to pole and victory in the Qatar Sprint.

This year, he’s been a model of consistency, finishing every race, and only missing out on points after a late nosebox change in Miami. He’s been within touching distance of that elusive victory, with second-place finishes in Monaco and Austria, before joining an exclusive club of F1 winners, at the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix.

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