It was only three years ago in which Oscar Piastri, and his management team, made their first mark in Formula 1.
The Alpine team, seemingly in a never-ending cauldron of chaos, announced the Australian driver was to replace the departing Fernando Alonso. Except one thing, he actually was not.
Piastri was on his way to McLaren, a move which was eventually accredited the Contract Recognition Board.
The team had gone to enormous lengths to pay Daniel Ricciardo to not drive for the 2023 season and to recruit another Australian from under the nose of another constructor, one which it was battling for fourth in the constructors' championship that year.
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His Mark Since...
Piastri is halfway through his third season in the sport, and is the championship leader. In fact, if he were to maintain his slender nine-point lead over teammate and title rival Lando Norris, he would become the first driver in 15 years to win a drivers' championship in just their third full season of driving in the sport.
It may feel slow, in comparison to the lightning pace that the sport moves in, but Piastri has picked off his former defecit to Norris and has worked on his own previous weak points; like tyre wear and later qualifying execution.
In 2023, he scored less than half the points of the Brit, but underlined his potential by winning the Qatar Grand Prix Sprint.
In 2024, the gap had shrunk from 108 points to 82, but he was more vividly taking the fight to Norris and out-smarted him with red-letter passes on the first laps of the Hungarian and Italian races.
LAP 1 / 53
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 1, 2024
PIASTRI TAKES THE LEAD!! 😱
The Australian sweeps around Norris at the della Roggia chicane to lead the field!! 👏
Leclerc also squeezes past into second, sparking jubilation in the stands! #F1 #ItalianGP pic.twitter.com/ViptiU4v5v
Piastri also went on a summer run of bettering his more experienced teammate in five out of seven races, which included two victories. It was clear that the Aussie was not far away from launching his own championship assault, if given a car that matched his talents.
And with the Woking team continuing in the ascendancy, in 2025, Piastri has so far pipped Norris to the summit. Considering that he has driven for the team since 2019, he has clearly strangled the benchmark status away from a driver who inarguably held it between the Papaya walls.
The Australian Reaction
Australia's new breakthrough star, had the awkward position of replacing the country's most popular driver in the past 35-40 years.
Daniel Ricciardo's beaming smile struck a chord, not just with his home country, but globally. His calm and happy demeanour was quelled by an aching intensity on the race track, one where overtaking became his star quality, and galvanised yet more supporters.
Thus, his absence has been felt. And it takes more than just an adequate driver to be the local hero. And Piastri is more than just adequate, he is enthralling and a probable champion-in-waiting, even if not this year.
Hence, the news that he will have a grandstand bearing his name, at next year's Australian Grand Prix, is a sign of how supported he is, but how his ice-cold attitude and lethal ability on a race track has been embraced by his home country.
To have gathered that support in less than three years of driving in the sport is not the norm. Because neither is Piastri.
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