Oscar Piastri

Oscar Piastri, born on 6 April 2001 in Melbourne, first made his mark in remote-control car racing before switching to karting at the age of ten. At fourteen he moved to Europe to test himself against the international field; in 2019 fellow Australian Mark Webber became his manager. Piastri remains the only driver to have won three junior single-seater championships in a row at his first attempt: the Formula Renault Eurocup (2019), Formula 3 (2020) and Formula 2 (2021).

After two years as a test and reserve driver for Alpine, the partnership ended in 2022 following a contract dispute, and Piastri moved to McLaren for the 2023 season, where he has raced alongside Lando Norris ever since. He claimed his first podium finish in his debut year at the Japanese Grand Prix.

In 2024 he took his first Formula 1 victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix, followed by a second win in Azerbaijan; that season McLaren secured its first Constructors’ Championship since 1998. In 2025 Piastri led the drivers’ standings for much of the season, holding a 34-point lead over team-mate Norris after his seventh win of the year in the Netherlands, before a run of late-season errors, including retirements in qualifying and the race in Azerbaijan and a collision with Norris during the Austin sprint, ended his title hopes. He finished the season third, 13 points behind champion Norris.

He chose car number 81 at the start of his Formula 1 career in 2023. In 2026 a 98-million-year-old wasp species preserved in amber was named after him; one of the researchers involved cited the fossil’s colour, which reminded him of McLaren’s orange livery.