Oscar Piastri has been the talk of the Formula 1 paddock over the past month, with McLaren announcing he will join the team in 2023.
The young Australian will take the seat of countryman Daniel Ricciardo, who will part ways with the British team after two seasons.
Piastri comes in with credentials few young drivers possess.
He is a proven winner across multiple categories and has shown the ability to quickly adapt to new cars.
The 21-year-old is Australia’s future in the sport and promises a career that could place him in the upper echelon of drivers from this country.
Major promise as a child on the world stage
Born in Melbourne, Piastri gravitated to karting at a young age.
Moving overseas when he was barely a teenager, Piastri linked up with British karting team Ricky Flynn Motorsport.
The team is also the former home of Piastri’s new teammate Lando Norris and Formula 1 rookie Guanyu Zhou.
Piastri had plenty of success as a junior kart driver, including finishing sixth in the world championship in 2016.
His success led to his first crack in a single-seater racing car, competing in the inaugural season of the Formula 4 UAE Championship.
Piastri drove in three of the five rounds of the championship, scoring points in all 11 races and finishing with two podiums.
Oscar Piastri (left) celebrates his Formula 3 win with Mark Webber in Mugello, Italy in 2020.(Twitter: @F1)
Success follows in European championship
Piastri then moved onto the Formula Renault Eurocup in 2018 for the Arden team.
The teenager proved his worth in his first season, claiming three podiums with a best result of second place.
He then moved to French outfit R-ace GP for the 2019 season and started to show his class in single-seat cars.
The Australian claimed seven wins from 19 races in 2019 to win the championship — the first of what would be three titles in three years across three categories.
Major wins in debut seasons put Piastri on F1 path
Italian Formula 3 team Prema Racing then signed the Australian for the COVID-affected 2020 season.
Piastri laid down an early marker for the field by winning his first Formula 3 race.
He would only take one further victory in 2020 but had several podium finishes, including three consecutive second-place results that guided him to the championship.
Victory in his rookie F3 season allowed Piastri to move onto Prema’s Formula 2 car for the 2021 season.
Once again he won the championship in his rookie season, with six victories over the 24-race championship.
He technically secured the title in the final round of the season, but realistically the Australian had wrapped up the championship in the penultimate round.
The Australian had secured three championships in three seasons and appeared to be on the cusp of F1.
He became Alpine’s reserve driver for the 2022 season, behind Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon.
After Alonso announced he was leaving for Aston Martin at the end of the season, Alpine announced Piastri as their new driver for 2023.
Piastri sensationally rejected Alpine’s claims that he would drive for them in 2023, before being announced as Daniel Ricciardo’s replacement at McLaren a month later.
