68 Facts About Oscar Piastri

Oscar Jack Piastri is an Australian racing driver, who competes in Formula One for McLaren.

Oscar Piastri made his Formula One debut at the Bahrain Grand Prix, achieving his first career podium in his rookie season at the Japanese Grand Prix.

Oscar Piastri is contracted to remain at McLaren until at least the end of the 2028 season.

Oscar Jack Piastri was born on 6 April 2001 to Chris and Nicole Piastri in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Oscar Piastri grew up in the inner-city suburb of Brighton with three younger sisters; Hattie, Edie and Mae.

Oscar Piastri was privately educated at Haileybury College Melbourne and then Haileybury and Imperial Service College in England as a boarding pupil on a sports scholarship.

Chris Piastri served as his son's mechanic during Oscar's early racing years in Australia and is the founder and owner of HP Tuners, a vehicle diagnostics automotive software company.

Oscar Piastri started racing remote-controlled cars at a national level before beginning his karting career in 2011.

Oscar Piastri moved to the United Kingdom to further his racing career in 2016, finishing sixth in the 2016 World Championship in Bahrain.

In early 2016, Oscar Piastri landed his first major sponsorship, HP Tuners, which helped fund his racing career.

Later in 2016, Oscar Piastri made his single-seater debut in selected rounds of the Formula 4 UAE Championship with Dragon F4, claiming two podiums to take sixth in the championship.

In 2017, Oscar Piastri was named as part of the TRS Arden Junior Racing Team's line-up for the British F4 championship.

In 2018, Oscar Piastri made his debut in the championship, reuniting with Arden.

Oscar Piastri claimed his first victory in the series at Silverstone and repeated with a second win at the same venue a day later.

Oscar Piastri became the first driver to win three races in 2019 after taking victory at Spa-Francorchamps in July, and became the champion after taking a win and fourth place at the final round at Yas Marina.

In December 2018, Oscar Piastri took part in the GP3 Series post-season test at Yas Marina with Trident.

In October 2019, Oscar Piastri joined the post-season test with reigning FIA Formula 3 team champions Prema Racing.

Oscar Piastri started third on the grid for his debut race at the Red Bull Ring.

Oscar Piastri collided with pole-sitter Sebastian Fernandez at the first corner but avoided damage and went on to take victory.

Oscar Piastri started fifth for the sprint race in Barcelona, but overtook multiple cars to take the lead before the end of the first lap.

Oscar Piastri held his position to take his second victory.

Oscar Piastri reclaimed the championship lead after finishing fifth at the following Spa-Francorchamps feature race, but dropped back again after being penalised for an illegal overtake in the sprint race, which Sargeant won.

Oscar Piastri was penalised in qualifying at Monza for impeding Jake Hughes and started the feature race in 15th place.

Oscar Piastri charged to third place by the end of the race, benefiting from Sargeant being involved in a collision, to retake the championship lead.

Oscar Piastri retired from the sprint race after he was hit by Clement Novalak, but was issued a five-place grid penalty for the next race for earlier forcing David Beckmann off the track.

Oscar Piastri lined up 16th on the grid for the final feature race at the Mugello Circuit and failed to score points after finishing 11th.

Sargeant started the sprint race six places ahead of Oscar Piastri, but was eliminated after a collision on the first lap.

Oscar Piastri's only remaining title rival, Theo Pourchaire, was unable to bridge the points gap and Oscar Piastri finished seventh to claim the championship title, three points ahead of Pourchaire and four ahead of Sargeant.

In December 2020, Oscar Piastri announced that he would continue with Prema Racing into Formula 2, replacing the departing Mick Schumacher and partnering Ferrari Driver Academy member Robert Shwartzman for the 2021 season.

Oscar Piastri started the feature race from eighth place but passed multiple cars to take the lead by lap 13 of 32.

Oscar Piastri was later forced into retirement after making contact with Dan Ticktum and spinning with two laps remaining.

Oscar Piastri took consecutive second-place finishes at the Monaco round to take second place in the championship standings behind Zhou.

Oscar Piastri retired from the first sprint race in Baku after a collision on the first lap, but finished second in the feature race.

Oscar Piastri claimed pole position at Silverstone, and took the lead of the championship after finishing sixth in the first sprint race.

At Monza, Oscar Piastri took his first feature win in the series which included a battle on lap 25 with Zhou, and increased his championship lead with another pole and win at Sochi.

Oscar Piastri became the second driver that season after Juri Vips to win two races on the same weekend, finishing first in Jeddah's second sprint race and being in the lead at the time the feature race was aborted.

Oscar Piastri capped off his season with a win in the feature race, his fourth in a row, which meant that Piastri had won six races, more than any other driver that season.

Oscar Piastri remained part of the now-rebranded Alpine Academy in 2021 and drove the Alpine A521 in the post-season young drivers' test at Yas Marina Circuit in December.

Oscar Piastri was made available as a reserve driver for McLaren following an agreement between the two teams.

Oscar Piastri took part in Alpine's testing sessions in the A521 throughout the season, including at the Circuit of the Americas, Losail International Circuit and Silverstone Circuit.

McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl later confirmed that Oscar Piastri had a private two day testing session in a previous-spec McLaren car at Circuit Paul Ricard the week before the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

In June 2022, rumours emerged suggesting Oscar Piastri would drive for Williams in 2023 on loan from Alpine, who were initially expected to retain Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso.

Alpine then announced that Oscar Piastri would replace Alonso in 2023, although the press release contained no quotes from Oscar Piastri himself.

Oscar Piastri immediately rejected Alpine's announcement via a post on Twitter, stating that he had not signed a contract with the team and that he would not be driving for them in 2023.

Oscar Piastri said a "breakdown in trust" between him and Alpine was behind his decision to leave the Enstone-based team.

Oscar Piastri reached the third qualifying session at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and qualified eighth, but first-lap contact with Pierre Gasly necessitated a front wing change and dropped Piastri outside the top 10.

Oscar Piastri missed out on a maiden podium finish after being jumped during the pit stops by Lewis Hamilton, but he achieved his best career finish thus far in fourth place.

Oscar Piastri gained the lead from Verstappen in the pits but was later overtaken after a safety car, finishing second.

On race day Oscar Piastri retired at the first corner after colliding with Ferrari's Carlos Sainz Jr.

On 20 September, Oscar Piastri signed a contract extension to stay with McLaren until the end of 2026.

Oscar Piastri finished the race in third behind Norris to secure his first podium finish in Formula One, becoming the first rookie to do so since Lance Stroll in 2017.

Oscar Piastri followed this up by qualifying first for the Qatar Grand Prix sprint and holding off Verstappen to take victory.

Oscar Piastri started sixth for the main race and improved to second place at the finish ahead of Norris, earning his second Grand Prix podium.

Oscar Piastri started 10th again at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, but damage from contact with debris caused him to finish two laps down in 14th.

Oscar Piastri ended the season by qualifying 19th at the Las Vegas Grand Prix but recovering to 10th and setting the fastest lap of the race, then qualifying third and finishing sixth at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Oscar Piastri ended his debut season ninth in the World Drivers' Championship, scoring 97 points to Norris's 205.

Oscar Piastri was rated the seventh-best driver of the season in a poll of the ten Formula One team principals, and Sky Sports praised his debut campaign as "very impressive" but added that his race pace and tyre management required improvement to match Norris.

Oscar Piastri began the 2024 season by qualifying and finishing eighth at the Bahrain Grand Prix, followed by fourth-place finishes at the Saudi Arabian and Australian Grands Prix and further points at the Japanese and Chinese Grands Prix.

At the Austrian Grand Prix, Oscar Piastri overtook Norris to finish second in the sprint, then benefited from a late collision between Norris and Verstappen to finish second in the main race, 1.9 seconds behind winner George Russell.

Oscar Piastri ran as high as second place at the British Grand Prix after qualifying fifth, but lost positions when McLaren switched him to intermediate tyres one lap later than Norris and went on to finish fourth.

Oscar Piastri led the race until he was pitted after Norris, allowing Norris to undercut him, on the understanding that Norris would later relinquish the position.

Norris did so with two laps remaining, allowing Oscar Piastri to take his maiden win and become the fifth Australian driver to win a Formula One Grand Prix.

McLaren's strategy and subsequent team orders caused controversy as Norris had built a six-second lead to Oscar Piastri; Norris commented that the result was "fair" and "honest", admitting that he lost the race to Oscar Piastri at the start.

Oscar Piastri was then promoted to second place after George Russell's disqualification.

Oscar Piastri finished eighth in the race after again relinquishing position to Norris and receiving a penalty for colliding with Liam Lawson.

Oscar Piastri finished 2024 4th in the drivers championship with 292 points, 5 places higher than 2023 scoring two wins, seven podiums and one fastest lap during the season.

McLaren entered 2025 as title favourites, with Oscar Piastri expected to challenge teammate Lando Norris for the World Drivers' Championship.

Oscar Piastri finished third in Japan behind Verstappen and Norris.