Oscar Piastri

Born in Melbourne, Australia, to Italian-Australian parents,[1] Piastri began karting in 2011, before going professional in 2014 and competing in various Australian races and championships.[2] In 2015, Piastri began competing in European and other CIK-FIA sanctioned karting championships with Ricky Flynn Motorsport, with a highest placed finish of sixth in the 2016 World Championship in Bahrain.[3][4][5]

In early 2016, Piastri landed his first major sponsorship, HP Tuners (founded and owned by his father), which helped fund his racing career. This was displayed when on his racing suit and car during the GP3 Series, F3 and F2 season. Later in 2016, 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.[6]

In 2017, Piastri was named as part of the TRS Arden Junior Team's line-up for the British F4 championship.[7] There he claimed six wins and six pole positions to finish as runner-up to Jamie Caroline.[8][9]

Piastri racing in British F4 in 2017

In December 2018, Piastri took part in the post-season test at Yas Marina with Trident.[10]

Piastri racing at Monza in the 2018 Formula Renault Eurocup Championship

In 2018, Piastri made his debut in the championship, reuniting with Arden.[11] Claiming three podiums, with a highest placed finish of second at the second race at Hockenheim, he finished the season ninth in the championship.[12]

In December 2018, it was announced Piastri would switch to reigning team champions R-ace GP for the 2019 championship.[13] He claimed his first victory in the series at Silverstone[14] and repeated with a second win at the same venue a day later.[15] He became the first driver to win three races in 2019 after taking victory at Spa-Francorchamps in July,[16] and became the champion after taking a win and fourth place at the final round at Yas Marina.[17]

In October 2019, Piastri joined the post-season test with reigning FIA Formula 3 team champions Prema Racing.[18] In January 2020, the Italian outfit signed Piastri to contest the upcoming season,[19] alongside Logan Sargeant and Frederik Vesti.

Piastri started third on the grid for his debut race at the Red Bull Ring. He collided with pole-sitter Sebastián Fernández at the first corner but avoided damage and went on to take victory.[20] Piastri took three consecutive second-place finishes at both Hungaroring races and the first Silverstone feature race, before his first retirement of the season came at the following Silverstone sprint race when a stuck-open DRS forced him to withdraw.[21] Teammate Sargeant took the lead of the championship from Piastri at the second Silverstone feature race after Piastri struggled with reliability issues in qualifying.[22] Piastri started fifth for the sprint race in Barcelona, but overtook multiple cars to take the lead before the end of the first lap. He held his position to take his second victory.[23] Piastri reclaimed the championship lead after finishing fifth at the following Spa-Francorchamps feature race,[24] but dropped back again after being penalised for an illegal overtake in the sprint race, which Sargeant won.[25]

Piastri was penalised in qualifying at Monza for impeding Jake Hughes and started the feature race in 15th place.[26] He charged to third place by the end of the race, benefiting from Sargeant being involved in a collision to retake the championship lead.[27] Piastri retired from the sprint race after he was hit by Clément Novalak, but was also issued a five-place grid penalty for the next race for earlier forcing David Beckmann off the track. Despite his retirement, Piastri maintained the lead of the championship after his teammates collided with each other.[28]

Piastri lined up 16th on the grid for the final feature race at the Mugello Circuit and failed to score points after finishing 11th. Title rival Sargeant finished sixth, leaving both drivers tied on 160 points going into the final race.[29] Sargeant started the sprint race six places ahead of Piastri, but was eliminated after a collision on the first lap. Piastri's only remaining title rival, Théo Pourchaire, was unable to bridge the points gap and Piastri finished seventh to claim the championship title, three points ahead of Pourchaire and four ahead of Sargeant.[30][31]

Piastri at the 2021 Formula 2 British Grand Prix

In December 2020, Piastri announced that he would continue with Prema into Formula 2, replacing the departing Mick Schumacher and partnering Ferrari Driver Academy member Robert Shwartzman for the 2021 season.[32] Piastri finished fifth in his debut race. In the second race, Piastri started from sixth and made up places before overtaking fellow Alpine junior Guanyu Zhou on the final lap to take the lead, claiming his first Formula 2 race win. Piastri started the feature race from eighth place but passed multiple cars to take the lead by lap 13 of 32. He was later forced into retirement after making contact with Dan Ticktum and spinning with two laps remaining. Piastri took consecutive second-place finishes at the Monaco round to take second place in the championship standings behind Zhou.

Piastri retired from the first sprint race in Baku after a collision on the first lap, but finished second in the feature race. He claimed pole position at Silverstone and took the lead of the championship after finishing sixth in the first sprint race. At the conclusion of the fourth round, he held the championship lead by five points over Zhou.[33] At Monza, 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. Piastri became the second driver that season after Jüri 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. The Australian clinched the title with a podium in race one at Yas Marina, thus becoming the third driver to win the championship in their rookie season. He 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.

Piastri joined the Renault Sport Academy in January 2020.[34][35] After securing the FIA Formula 3 Championship in 2020, Piastri was rewarded for his efforts by the Renault F1 Team with a young drivers test in Bahrain on 31 October 2020 along with fellow Renault Sport Academy drivers Christian Lundgaard and Guanyu Zhou.[36] In the 2021 season Piastri would find himself a part of the rebranded Alpine Academy alongside Zhou, Lundgaard, Victor Martins and Caio Collet.

Piastri is the reserve driver for the Alpine F1 Team in the 2022 Formula One Championship.[37] Piastri also acts as a reserve driver for the McLaren F1 Team.[38] During the season he has been testing F1 cars at various tracks around the world.

^† As Piastri was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate points for the fastest lap of top ten finishers)

^‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate points for the fastest lap of top ten finishers)

^† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.
^‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.