An Oscar-nominated performance
Not since Charles Leclerc blew into the F1 paddock in 2018, fresh from a winning streak in the feeder formulas, has a rookie driver generated quite such a collective fever. Even team bosses have been losing their heads in giddy excitement over Oscar Piastri’s immense talent, to the extent that McLaren and Alpine went to the Contract Recognition Board last year in a well-publicised tussle to secure him.
With typical understatement, the Melbourne native describes this rancorous period as “the drama”. Piastri had been part of Alpine’s driver-development programme but overachieved, winning the F2 championship in 2021, a season earlier than the Anglo-French operation had anticipated. There was no seat for him last season and, when Alpine’s bosses tried to arrive at a contractual fudge for this year, aiming to park him at Williams while tying in Fernando Alonso for one more season, the result was a meltdown.
Behind the scenes, Piastri
