Image Credit: Michael Potts F1
Oscar Piastri is made for this. With 6 races run in the 2025 Formula 1 season, it is McLaren’s Aussie star who leads the way in the Driver’s Championship. 16 points separate him from teammate, Lando Norris, following victory in Miami; his 4th win already.
Australian fans have waited 45 years to see one of their countrymen climb to the highest pinnacle in motorsport. It’s not for a lack of talent. Webber and Ricciardo certainly had the goods to compete with the very best, but to create that moment in this sport, that window through which you can reach out and grasp history, so many stars have to align. We don’t have the moment yet, but we may just have the man for it.
There’s something about the Melburnian that, put simply, feels different. We’ve seen quick. We’ve seen talented. It’s been a while though, since we’ve seen such speed and such natural gifts in a young man of such remarkable temperament.
It’s there to be seen in the now infamous dispute that put Piastri on front pages around the world well before he first saw lights out in an F1 cockpit. It’s evident in every moment he spends in the public eye, from interviews to social media to the verbal sparring grounds of team radio. Since he first stepped into a race car, Oscar Piastri has shown the makings of a champion, inside and out.
It started with an exceptional junior career. Having moved to the United Kingdom as a teenage kart racer chasing a dream, he made quick progress through the ranks of F4, and soon after won his first Championship in the Formula Renault 2.0 series of 2019. A move up to Formula 3 for the Aussie followed immediately, recruited by Prema Racing. Whenever a team like that sees something in an up and coming driver, the F1 world takes notice. The Italian talent factory brought us current drivers Pierre Gasly, Lance Stroll, Esteban Ocon, and Ferrari star Charles LeClerc. Alpine, the F1 team owned by Renault, acted quickest and brought the blossoming young talent into their academy.
In Oscar’s first attempt, he took home the Formula 3 Championship. The next year, another promotion. Same result. He became just the 6th rookie to triumph in Formula 2, and the first driver in history to win Formula Renault, F3, and F2, in consecutive seasons.
It was only a matter of time before the chance came to enter the esteemed ranks of Formula 1 drivers. In 2022 he took the role of reserve driver for Alpine, with the unspoken expectation being that Piastri would take over as soon as a seat became vacant, but no one could’ve expected what was to unfold when that moment came.
In August of that year, a statement notably absent of comment from Piastri himself was released by Alpine, announcing that the 21 year old would replace the Spanish legend Fernando Alonso, who had been unexpectedly poached by rivals Aston Martin. Just 2 hours later, Piastri’s tweet shocked the sporting world.
“I understand that, without my agreement, Alpine F1 have put out a press release late this afternoon that I am driving for them next year. This is wrong and I have not signed a contract with Alpine for 2023. I will not be driving for Alpine next year.”
Even now it’s hard to believe this happened. Team principal Otmar Szafnauer was incensed, turning to the media to decry a perceived act of disloyalty from his reserve driver. “My wish for Oscar was he had a bit more integrity”, he told reporters, but as the facts were laid bare the narrative quickly turned. No betrayal, no maneuver of slippery self interest, but a dysfunctional team grasping at straws and the young driver who knew better.
The FIA Contract Recognition Board ruled unequivocally. Unbeknownst to the public, Piastri had already signed a contract with McLaren on July 4 to replace his countryman Daniel Ricciardo, and it was “the only contract to be recognised by the board”. Alpine had been aware along, releasing their statement in an attempt to strongarm the youngster, but Piastri had his sights set higher. He wasn’t going to be bullied.
It’s worth mentioning the positive influence of Mark Webber here. The legend of Aussie motorsport has been Piastri’s mentor since he made the move to the UK in 2016, and his manager since 2020. Webber likely saw something of a kindred spirit in Oscar, of whom he’s said “he’s got that white line fever when he puts his helmet on and turns into a different character, which is sensational”. Between the two of them they saw in Alpine a team unfitting of Piastri’s ambition. Oscar had earned every bit of the ‘potential champion’ label, and if any team was best suited to turn potential into reality, it was Zak Brown’s surging McLaren.
For what it’s worth, Szafnauer now claims even he was deceived by Alpine, fed a lie that a contract had been signed in 2021, when in fact it was inked but never graced with Piastri’s signature.
It was a slow burn over the course of Oscar’s first two seasons in Formula 1, finishing 6th and 4th respectively. His teammate, Lando Norris, has been the 1st driver for McLaren with little room for debate until this year. The talented Brit finished ahead by 108 points in Oscar’s rookie season, and then again by 84 points in 2024, finishing 2nd and putting considerable pressure on the eventual champion Verstappen for the majority of the season. There are no doubts to be had over Norris’s speed, but some have criticised the former F3 champion’s composure under pressure. Driver errors have cost him dearly in recent years. Penalties late in the 2024 season for starting an unapproved second formation lap in Sao Paulo, and speeding under yellows in Qatar, were significant missteps.
Norris admitted that he had “fucked up” at Lusail, though his championship hopes were already dashed by then. The English star even said he had failed to prepare himself for a potential title challenge going into that season.
That’s a statement that’s difficult to parse considering his circumstances. When you watch Oscar Piastri and the way he carries himself, the way he speaks, the things he prioritises, there doesn’t seem to be a moment that goes by where he isn’t preparing himself for a potential title challenge. Now that work is beginning to pay off.
It feels a distant memory given recent results, but 2025 started out rocky for Oscar at the Australian Grand Prix. With Lando leading and Piastri close behind in 2nd, a sudden downpour of rain in the 44th lap sent both McLaren drivers into the sand at the penultimate corner. Norris recovered and claimed the win, but Piastri ran through the final turn and beached himself in the grass, falling to 13th before he could return to the track, and eventually finishing 9th. It was a real heartbreaker for the hometown hero who grew up just 20 minutes down the road in the portside suburb of Brighton. He must be desperate to climb the podium at Albert Park for the first time, but it didn’t take long for Oscar to collect himself.
Victories in Shanghai and Bahrain followed in races 2 and 4, with a win for Verstappen in between. Both pole positions, the only two Piastri has taken so far in 2025, were converted into composed and commanding P1 finishes. Then came Saudi Arabia, where the Aussie sat second on the grid but aced the start forcing Verstappen to vacate the track in a desperate attempt to hold onto first place; a clear cut 5 second penalty. This would be enough to secure the win despite being unable to get around the Red Bull at the notoriously difficult passing circuit in Jeddah.
It was always likely that the leader after Turn 1 would come out on top. Piastri knew a perfect getaway was his best and perhaps only chance at victory, and he made it happen.
Miami saw Lando Norris outqualify his teammate, starting 2nd with Piastri in 4th, but before you could blink their fortunes were reversed; Lando’s failed first corner overtake sent him off track and Oscar capitalised. By Lap 5 he was past Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes and relentlessly hunting down Verstappen. The Red Bull superstar made a valiant effort to hold him off, but going into the first corner of Lap 14 Piastri got his nose ahead, anticipated the divebomb which sent Max too deep, and calmly pounced on the 4 time champion’s desperate mistake. The rest was elementary. Controlled victory again.
It all feels indicative of what we had hoped to see coming into the season; a bright young talent blossoming into a certified star. With each passing race weekend Piastri’s toolkit grows deeper. He is tested in new ways and, as a driver, he matures. I qualify this only because as a person and as a competitor, he has hardly any room to mature. Piastri already presents as the full package.
Quietly assured, self aware, analytical, intelligent, fiercely committed to the task of constant improvement, and remarkably unaffected by the pervasive culture of petty drama and high stakes nonsense. He has it all. Just listen to the team radio patter. On those frequencies where your typical racer seems to take pleasure in raising their race engineer’s blood pressure with every communication, he is the epitome of unbothered. In F2 he once joked over the radio, “I think I’ll stick to shutting up and driving more often, it seems to work pretty good.” That it does, Oscar.
Piastri carries a cool head on his shoulders like few Formula 1 have ever seen. Comparisons to ‘The Iceman’ Kimi Raikkonen and even the legend himself Michael Schumacher have been bandied around, but at risk of blasphemy, even when compared to those great names he seems to have a greater control over his inner fire, a more complete mastery of mindset. Three years deep into an F1 career that has not been short of mental tests, we are still waiting to see what if anything can faze him.
It’s been forecast for some time that the 2025 Championship will likely come down to a prolonged battle between the two McLaren’s, and as fans and analysts consider what might set our two protagonists apart, the level head of Piastri looks to be the biggest difference maker. Lando Norris drives with emotion. He is not afraid of peaks and troughs. Now as he begins to toil in a battle he is accustomed to winning, fans are anxious to see how he’ll respond. Will time spent staring at the backside of the other orange car bring out the best in him? Will he fight back, or will he flounder?
For Oscar Piastri, the questions are very different.
Can he keep this up? Can anyone stop him? Are we watching the start of something special?
-Will Newby