At the Dutch Grand Prix in August 2025, Oscar Piastri led the Formula 1 World Championship by 34 points. He had won seven races in three seasons of F1. He had just recorded the first Grand Slam of his career at Zandvoort: pole, win, fastest lap, and led every lap. He was 24 years old and in his third season of Formula 1. The only person between him and the championship was his teammate.
Who is Oscar Piastri
Oscar Piastri was born in Melbourne in April 2001. His first competitive racing was radio-controlled cars, where he won a national championship at age nine. He started karting at ten, moved to Europe in 2016, and then did something no driver in history had done before: he won the Formula Renault, Formula 3 and Formula 2 championships in three consecutive seasons.
Formula Renault Eurocup in 2019. FIA Formula 3 Championship in 2020. FIA Formula 2 Championship in 2021, in his rookie season. Three championships in three years. The only driver ever to win all three in succession.
Then he had no seat for 2022.
Alpine, who had supported his junior career, decided to retain their existing drivers. Piastri was left as a reserve driver for a full season while watching others race in Formula 1 from the pit wall. It is the kind of year that ends careers before they start, or builds the quiet fury that defines a champion.
The contract dispute that defined him
In August 2022, Alpine announced that Piastri would replace Fernando Alonso in their 2023 car. Piastri had not agreed to this. Two hours after the press release, he posted on social media: "I understand that, without my agreement, Alpine F1 have put out a press release late this afternoon that I am driving for them next year. This is wrong and I have not signed a contract with Alpine for 2023. I will not be driving for Alpine next year."
The case went to the FIA Contract Recognition Board. The verdict went in Piastri's favour. He would race for McLaren in 2023 alongside Lando Norris. Alpine's team principal called his actions a question of integrity. Piastri said nothing further and went to McLaren.
The composure with which a 21-year-old handled a public legal dispute against a Formula 1 team told you something about the person. Martin Brundle would later compare his temperament to Alain Prost. Verstappen himself said "he's very calm in his approach, and I like that."
Three seasons, nine wins
Piastri's rookie year in 2023 was steady. The McLaren wasn't competitive enough in the early part of the season for him to demonstrate what he could do. He won the Qatar sprint race. He took a podium in Japan. He won Rookie of the Year. He watched and learned.
2024 was different. McLaren arrived at Hungary in the summer with a car capable of winning. Piastri qualified second, ran second, and won on a one-stop strategy when Norris pitted. His first Grand Prix win. He followed it three races later with a dominant victory in Azerbaijan. Two wins in his second season. McLaren won the Constructors' Championship for the first time since 1998.
2025 was the year that established him as one of the best drivers in the world. He won four of the first six races. He won in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Miami and China, where he set a new lap record in qualifying before controlling the race from pole to flag. In the Netherlands, he produced the Grand Slam: pole position by 0.012 seconds over Norris, led every one of the 72 laps, set the fastest lap, and won. He became only the 27th driver in history to achieve the feat, and the first McLaren driver to do so since 1998.
After Zandvoort, Piastri led the championship by 34 points. Verstappen was 104 points behind. The title looked like his.
What happened in the second half
The lead dissolved. A qualifying crash in Azerbaijan. A first-lap collision with Norris at the United States sprint in Austin. Strategic calls that didn't go his way in Qatar. Verstappen won six of the final nine races. Norris found the form that had eluded him through the summer.
The championship went to Abu Dhabi with all three still able to win it. Piastri needed to win the race, with results going his way elsewhere. He finished second. Norris finished third. Norris won the championship by two points from Verstappen. Piastri was thirteen points further back in third.
He had led the championship for more races than either of them. He had won more races than Norris in the first half of the season. McLaren's team principal Andrea Stella said afterwards: "Oscar would have been a worthy Champion in only his third season in Formula 1. Effectively, we could have had two Champions this year."
He is 24 years old. He has a contract at McLaren through 2028. Stella has called him "a future multiple World Champion." Nobody who watched the 2025 season doubts it.
What makes him different
Piastri is notably quiet for a modern F1 driver. No performance persona, no manufactured media presence. He plays Call of Duty. He watches cricket. He became a supporter of the Delhi Capitals in the IPL after posting on social media asking for recommendations on which team to follow. His racing helmet design has not changed since his karting days.
What he does have is the kind of composure under pressure that very few drivers at any level of the sport possess. In a car that is equally competitive, he is as fast as anyone on the grid. His high-speed corner ability has been noted consistently by engineers and commentators throughout his career. He makes very few mistakes. When the car gives him what he needs, he tends to win.
The 2026 season is his third attempt at the championship. McLaren have a new car under new regulations. Piastri arrives with seven wins, the experience of a title fight, and the lessons that 2025 provided. He is the most quietly dangerous driver in Formula 1.
The MCL38 on your wall
The Deckorate Oscar Piastri deck captures the MCL38 in the papaya orange livery that carried him to two wins in 2024 and set up the title challenge that followed. For anyone who watched the 2025 season and saw what Piastri did in the first half of the year, this is the deck that represents the driver McLaren are building their future around.
Shop the Oscar Piastri MCL38 deck →
