Oscar Piastri - Forging a Future World Champion
Image credit: McLaren Media Centre, Glenn Dunbar
Last weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix promptly swept away the disappointment of Madrid and provided both fans and drivers with one of the more blockbuster Grand Prix of the season. From George Russell’s dominance to Red Bull’s resurgence with their first double podium since the Chinese Grand Prix in 2024, Alpine’s implosion and even a fun battle at the back of the pack between Alonso and Bottas at Aston Martin and Cadillac respectively, the storylines at play were a feast for the audience to devour.
One of these many storylines focused on Oscar Piastri.
It’s been a somewhat anonymous season for the Australian driver so far in 2026 as it serves as a bumpy crash down back to Earth after the rollercoaster ride of last season when he was fighting both Lando Norris and, later, Max Verstappen for the World Championship. A driver with a history of knowing what it takes to win a Championship (he won the Formula Renault Eurocup, Formula 3 and Formula 2 Championships in three consecutive years on his way to Formula 1), to miss out by such a narrow margin must have been a tough pill to swallow for the then twenty-four year old. But last year was hopefully just the end of an opening act for Oscar Piastri in Formula 1.
2026 then marks Piastri’s fourth season both in Formula 1 and with McLaren, the team with whom he made his debut with. A lot has been achieved in their time together so far, starting firmly back in his rookie year in the sport. After a tricky first half of the season for the team as a whole, Piastri’s first podium came in Japan when he finished in third place. He then followed this up immediately with a Sprint Win in Qatar and a second place finish in the subsequent Grand Prix. In just his first season, Piastri had put himself on the map in Formula 1.
In 2024, only his second season in the sport, Oscar won his first Grand Prix in Hungary. The race itself proved to be one of the more divisive ones thanks to McLaren’s ‘Papaya Rules’ - a feature of the team that would come back to haunt them throughout 2025. While that victory may have left a sour taste in the mouths of some, Piastri didn’t wait long before proving his victory in Budapest was not simply a one off event. He proceeded to deliver possibly his greatest Grand Prix victory to date when he won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix later that same year, putting on a masterclass in defensive driving to prevent Charles Leclerc from taking the win from him. Absorbing the mounting pressure behind him from the Ferrari driver with apparent ease, Piastri looked in command throughout and made a statement nobody could argue with when he crossed the finish line.
While it was his final victory that year, it was a sign of things to come. Despite Lando Norris being his more experienced teammate at McLaren, Piastri put on a blistering performance in the first half of the 2025 Formula 1 season. He won six of the first fourteen races, with a further six podiums to his name and a lowest finishing position of ninth after a tricky race in wet conditions on home soil in Melbourne - one of only two occasions he wasn’t on the podium. The other was the infamous Canadian Grand Prix where Norris crashed into the back of Piastri, ruining both of their races in an uncharacteristically rookie style error from the seasoned driver.
Image credit: McLaren Media Centre
Leading the Championship comfortably, Piastri looked set to be the favorite to win that year.
But his win in Zandvoort after the summer break would be his last and his championship campaign began to come undone in Azerbaijan. At the scene of his greatest victory to date, Piastri crashed out dramatically on the opening lap of the Grand Prix. While Norris only finished in seventh place that day, Piastri didn’t feel like the same driver after that. Only two more trips to the podium were in Piastri’s future that season, in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, along with a Sprint Win, but he ultimately finished in third place overall in the Championship as Max Verstappen and Lando Norris overtook him, with his teammate becoming Champion - just thirteen points ahead of him.
Then came the possibility of a full reset in 2026, courtesy of a brand new regulation set. But McLaren fumbled the ball in the first part of the season with technical and mechanical woes aplenty. Piastri failed to start the first two Grand Prix because of reliability issues with the McLaren car as a result of this. But then, fittingly, in Japan, his first proper Grand Prix, Piastri was back, finishing in second place behind Antonelli and ahead of defending Champion Norris. Next time out in Miami he was back on the podium once more with a third place finish. After a difficult period, Piastri showed he still had what it took to fight at the front. Since then though, it’s been a different story as he hasn’t finished higher than his two fourth place finishes in Monaco and Austria respectively.
Image credit: McLaren Media Centre
Azerbaijan then looked set to be an unexpected hunting ground for the Australian driver as he looked to be in the mix in the practice sessions that kicked off the weekend. This was reinforced as he appeared to be the man to beat during qualifying for the Grand Prix, sitting in provisional Pole Position for much of the final part of the session. In the end, he had to settle for third place on the grid. But he still looked in a position to convert this into at least a podium result if not a Grand Prix win.
For much of the Grand Prix, it looked like it would be a case of redemption for Piastri in Baku, over one year on from his last victory in the sport and one year on from crashing out at the same venue that stopped his Championship hopes in their tracks. Much like before, Piastri absorbed the pressure mounting on him from behind as Verstappen and Hadjar (returning from injury and forming a formidable partnership with the Four-Time World Champion) worked together to hunt him down. The McLaren driver would not relent and try as he might, Verstappen simply couldn’t get past him.
But a costly lock-up by the Australian down into the first turn later in the race not only allowed the Red Bull drivers to move past him, but a slew of other cars too. Piastri would finish the race outside of the points in a lowly thirteenth place. What looked set to be his best Grand Prix of the year - and a contender for his best performance in the sport so far, was not to be, brought to an end by a possibly self-inflicted error.
Image credit: McLaren Media Centre
Piastri sits in seventh place overall in the Championship with one hundred and twenty points to his name in a no man’s land with Verstappen forty-three points ahead of him and Isack Hadjar thirty four behind him. It’s a far cry from his first run at a Championship last year.
For a driver that won three junior titles in back-to-back years, it’s a tough and frustrating reality for the Australian to contend with in 2026. He has the potential to be World Champion. That much has been clear throughout his brief career in Formula 1 so far.
Evidence of this includes the fact that of the eleven drivers on this year’s grid that have won Grand Prix - Piastri has won more races than six of them and is level on race victories with Charles Leclerc but achieved his in a shorter time span. Piastri also has six Pole Positions and nine Fastest Laps to his name, with remarkably only five DNFs in total from his entire time in the sport so far with only one of those, Baku last year, with Piastri solely to blame. Moreover, Piastri also completed every lap in every Grand Prix in 2024 - no mean feat and something rarely achieved by any driver. It’s a small statistic he shares with Christian Lundgaard in IndyCar this year. Given Lundgaard’s and Arrow McLaren’s relationship status now, let’s hope that’s where the similarities end however.
Image credit: McLaren Media Centre
Much like Charles Leclerc in 2022, Oscar Piastri had an initial taste of what it’s like to fight for a Championship and lose last year. But Leclerc’s 2024 season showed that he’s learned from that and that he’s got the necessary tools and capabilities now to fight all the way if need be next time he gets a shot at the title. Russell had that same confirmation season last year and is putting his learnings to work this year in his first proper run at a Championship. He’ll be attempting to break the mold set by Leclerc and Piastri. 2026 may not be Piastri’s year to completely rebuild himself and Baku proved why. But Baku also showed and reminded everyone, perhaps including Piastri himself, that he’s got what it takes to win and to put a title run together in the future. For now, he’ll just have to take the character building as it comes and hope he doesn’t have to wait too long before his next shot at a Championship.