MOTORSPORT: Why Oscar Piastri will be Australia’s next F1 champion

Oscar Piastri’s path to Formula 1 greatness has taken its next step with victory in the Hungarian Grand Prix, and it’s a journey that many have tipped will see him crowned as a world champion.

In becoming Australia’s fifth F1 race winner in history, Piastri’s success follows the path blazed by some of the sport’s luminaries, including three-times champion Sir Jack Brabham and 1980 victor Alan Jones.

Mark Webber was a frontrunner throughout the 2000s, with his nine career victories nearly culminating in the 2010 title.

However, battling head-to-head with teammate Sebastian Vettel’s might, the Queanbeyan driver was always up against the odds.

Daniel Ricciardo, meanwhile, has amassed eight victories to date, however, he was at the height of his powers prior to switching from Red Bull to Renault in 2019.

While the West Australian overshadowed Vettel in 2014, he later was pitted against Max Verstappen as the Dutchman began his march towards three straight titles.

Piastri, meanwhile, has demonstrated that he is a match for McLaren teammate Lando Norris, and his grounding in the sport has proven that he can perform under extreme pressure.

Growing up within earshot of the Albert Park Grand Prix circuit, Piastri cut his teeth with remote control cars and go karts, before bypassing the Australian motorsport ladder system and moving directly to Europe.

His rise through the junior ranks was unprecedented.

After claiming the Formula Renault Eurocup in 2019, he was enlisted in the Renault Sport Academy.

In the following two years, he won the F1-supporting Formula 3 and Formula 2 championships, both as a rookie, a feat nobody else has achieved.

Importantly, all of those three titles went down to the wire in the final round, with Piastri prevailing each time.

In August 2022, while enlisted as Alpine’s test driver, Piastri and his management team, led by Webber, made the call to bypass a seat with Alpine to replace the struggling Ricciardo at McLaren.

At the time, there was precious little to pick between the two outfits, with Alpine making a shock claim to Piastri’s services in a bid to cover the departing Fernando Alonso.

The battle between the two teams at the Contract Recognition Board landed in favour of McLaren, which proved to be a masterstroke for the Piastri camp.

While the start of his rookie F1 season was quiet, McLaren’s mid-year upgrades ahead of the 2023 British Grand Prix transformed the outfit.

By season’s end, Piastri registered podiums in Japan and Qatar, while he also scored a breakthrough F1 Sprint win in Qatar, alongside a Saturday second place in Belgium.

To date in 2024, Piastri has finished second at both Monaco and Austria, and has been a consistent point scorer, with the exception of Miami, where he suffered front wing damage after battling at the front of the field.

McLaren is clearly a team on the ascendancy and, looking forward, it has a stable base to work from.

While Verstappen has topped the scoreboard with seven wins so far this season, the Red Bull has been far from a dominant force over the past two months.

There is also the question of long-term stability at the team, which was mired in off-track controversy at the start of the season surrounding team principal Christian Horner.

Subsequently, the squad has taken a significant hit with the pending departure of its technical boffin Adrian Newey.

Ferrari and Mercedes have seen all four of their drivers win to date this season, and while they have shown flashes of speed, consistency has been an issue.

Both squads will change driver line-ups in 2025, with Lewis Hamilton replacing Carlos Sainz at the Prancing Horse, while Mercedes is seriously considering F2 driver Kimi Antonelli.

After 13 of the scheduled 24 races for the year, McLaren now sits second in the World Constructors’ Championship, with a podium streak that extends back to China in May – the only team that has shown that level of regular front-running pace.

Looking ahead, continuity is key – Piastri last year signed a contract extension that will see him stay with the outfit through to the end of 2026, while similarly, Norris will remain with the squad beyond 2025.

What does all this mean? McLaren is a good place to be, and Piastri has the race-winning credentials to take advantage of it.

Join the conversation at our Facebook page
Or email us at editor@carsales.com.au