“ALL OF A SUDDEN, AS I BRAKE HEAVILY INTO TURN ONE, MY VISION IS WHIPPED THROUGH 360 DEGREES LIKE A FAIRGROUND RIDE, FIRST TOWARDS THE INSIDE WALL, THEN INTO A CLOUD OF TYRE SMOKE”
“I HAD A DREAM and it came true, and that is not something that happens often to men,” said Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to climb Mount Everest.
Oscar Piastri has not yet reached the pinnacle of motor racing, but his dream – his Everest – is a few steps closer to reality after driving a bona-fide Formula One car for the first time at the Bahrain International Circuit on October 30, 2020.
The 19-year-old Aussie rising star, who clinched a thrilling victory in the 2020 FIA Formula 3 Championship a month earlier, completed 90 laps – almost 500km – behind the wheel of a two-year-old Renault RS18 as the French car maker rewarded him for his past success and prepares him for more in the future.
This is what happened, what it feels like to reach F1’s base camp and drive the fastest car on the planet for the first time, in his own words.
7:00AM I’m not really a morning person, and as the alarm rings through the suite in my Bahrain hotel, today is no different.
I unfurl myself from the doona, still clouded by a haze of jetlag, even though I had arrived in Bahrain four days ago.
Today, however, isn’t just any other day. In a few hours I will be fulfilling a dream that not only had me in a tussle against tiredness last night but one that has influenced almost every decision my family and I have made ever since I was a kid. Today, I’m going to
