Oscar Piastri knew he had to have an uncomfortable conversation with himself. He also knew coming home to Australia wasn’t going to make it any easier.
It was the end of the 2025 championship season and Piastri – despite leading for the majority of the year – slipped behind and lost his maiden title to McLaren teammate Lando Norris.
Piastri and girlfriend Lily Zneimer in the paddock at Albert Park.Credit: Getty Images
It was a disappointing conclusion to an impressive championship campaign for the young Melburnian, who clinched seven grands prix and came close to ending Australia’s 45-year drought without a Formula 1 champion.
In hindsight, Piastri doesn’t think there was a specific moment when he sat back and analysed where things had gone wrong. It was an accumulation of things, which started with reflecting on what he was proud of. There were also conversations with McLaren on how they could “approach things better”.
Those “conversations” likely refer to debate over McLaren’s infamous papaya rules – a team strategy that dictates both their drivers are treated equally and are free to race each other.
The strategy did keep things as fair as possible, but it arguably led to a series of blunders, including a collision between the pair in Canada, calls to “swap positions” in Italy and a double disqualification in Las Vegas.
Loading
These mishaps, coupled with an extraordinary last-minute resurgence from Max Verstappen, jeopardised McLaren’s hold on the driver’s championship.
“Some of those conversations are what you need to kind of put things to bed. Sometimes, that’s how you move on, is by talking about things,” Piastri said this week.
“So I think that was an important process to happen. I think with the people around me as well, my family, the kind of support team around me… But again, that all kind of happens when you feel it, rather than going, ‘OK, now I’m back in Australia, it’s all fine’.
“Like, as much as I wish that’s how it worked, it wasn’t. So when it comes up, you deal with it, and you keep going.”
It’s this matter-of-fact reflection and down-to-earth nature that Piastri is known for.
Born in Melbourne’s bayside suburbs, Piastri started go karting at Oakleigh Go Kart Racing Club, mentored by former go-kart champion James Sera.
Leanne Gurney – whose daughter Alana now races at Oakleigh – said Piastri remained a gold-star role model for aspiring racers in Melbourne.
“It’s amazing for kids in Melbourne to see someone that’s made it, it gives them something to be inspired by,” she said.
Oscar Piastri go-karting at the Oakleigh Go-Kart Centre in 2014.
As his karting career blossomed, Piastri subsequently moved through the junior ranks rapidly – he was Formula Renault Eurocup champion in 2019, Formula 3 champion in 2020 and the F2 winner in 2021.
Following a botched announcement from Alpine, Piastri moved to McLaren in 2023 replacing countryman and fan favourite Daniel Ricciardo.
While Ricciardo was known for his big personality, banter with media and ear-to-ear grin, Piastri has a quieter energy.
That was on show during the Australian summer when he popped up in TV ads for Google Pixel, one in a succession of commercial hook-ups that peaked during grand prix week.
According to Forbes, Piastri took home an estimated $56 million in 2025, made up of his $15 million salary and a $41 million bonus for a top-three finish in the drivers’ championship, and his part in McLaren winning the constructors’ championship.
Those figures have not been confirmed by Piastri or his team.
For a driver who has built a reputation on saying very little and letting the stopwatch do most of the talking, the Google Pixel ad was a pointed piece of theatre.
Piastri is shown at home casually rearranging the artwork on his wall. Down comes a painting of mountains — a fairly obvious nod to his former team Alpine — and up goes a new piece dominated by McLaren papaya.
Piastri has rarely addressed the bitter contract saga that erupted when he walked away from Alpine in 2022, yet here he is quietly rewriting the visual history on his own wall.
For a driver who generally avoids the spotlight, the ad lands as both cheeky and deliberate. No interviews, no barbs, no revisiting the legal drama — just a subtle reminder that whatever once hung on that wall has been replaced.
Loading
Access to Piastri and his family is tightly controlled, both by McLaren and his management, led by former Formula 1 driver Mark Webber, who finished third in three title races for Red Bull.
This week Piastri made appearances for sponsors, with journalists offered a few minutes of access at best as he munched on a sausage outside a hardware giant in Port Melbourne or promoted an accessory manufacturer in the Melbourne CBD. A small of group of Australian journalists, including from this masthead, was invited to a media roundtable with Piastri, which is where he reflected on his 2025 season.
If you ask anyone in Piastri’s circle to describe the 24-year-old, the same adjectives come up. Calm, humble, unflappable.
In 2024, Oscar’s mum, Nicole Piastri, described the firstborn of her four children – the F1 star has three younger sisters – as “painfully mature”. “He’s like an old man in a young man’s body,” she told this masthead at the time.
Piastri receives similar compliments on his mature character from fellow drivers.
He and Frenchman Pierre Gasly, of Alpine, often spend time gaming together – Call of Duty is a favourite – which helps the duo disconnect from the pressures of Formula 1.
Oscar Piastri with Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly. Credit: Getty
“I really appreciate him, he’s just himself – very calm,” Gasly told this masthead.
“I feel we are very different personality-wise where I’m way more emotional and he’s way more calm and chilled and that’s probably why we get on very well. He’s an excellent driver.”
Piastri has plenty of motorsport figures in his corner. Australian F1 legend Alan Jones, who won the 1980 world title for Williams told this masthead Piastri was “an extremely talented bloke”.
“Every now and again, someone comes along, and they’re capable of winning races and championships, no matter what they’ve got their bum in, and that’s what he looks like. He’s one of those freaks – a freak in the nicest possible way – that’s just such a naturally gifted driver. There’s nothing he lacks.”
F1 commentator David Croft, who attended a Kayo motorsport event on Monday night, has predicted Piastri as a championship contender again this year.
“He has all the attributes to be a fine world champion and has displayed in his second and third seasons an ability to learn and improve from his first year or the previous season before it,” Croft said.
Travis Auld and Martin Pakula.Credit: Penny Stephens
Australian Grand Prix Corporation chairman Martin Pakula believes the McLaren driver has become one of the most admired athletes this country has produced.
“What strikes me is that he’s as universally loved by the Australian sporting public as any Australian sportsperson I can remember,” Pakula told this masthead at the back of the Albert Park paddock.
“Probably [alongside] someone like Shane Warne. And earlier maybe Pat Rafter.
“You rarely find anyone with a bad word to say about him. I think it’s because he’s so humble, he’s so talented, and he’s so genuine,” Pakula said.
Pakula has watched Piastri closely, often in the tense hours before qualifying or a race when Formula One drivers retreat deep into their own heads.
What has struck him most is the 24-year-old’s composure.
“You see him in the paddock and his demeanour rarely changes. It doesn’t matter what’s going on around him.
“For a young bloke in his early 20s to be competing in that competition – and I mean genuinely competing with those guys – I think it’s an achievement that’s easy to underestimate.”
Piastri hugs his mother, Nicole, in Belgium last year. Credit: Getty Images
What makes Piastri’s popularity even more intriguing is that it runs against the stereotype of the outwardly charismatic Australian sporting hero. Unlike the more expressive personalities of that past, Piastri is reserved and understated.
“I think Australians place a really high premium on authenticity, and I think they know that he’s the genuine article,” Pakula said.
“Oscar is who he is. He doesn’t pretend to be anyone else – and he wins people’s respect through his sheer talent and determination.”
Australian GP chief Travis Auld was impressed by Piastri’s resilience and integrity following the loss of the driver’s championship to Norris.
“The back end of last year wouldn’t have been easy for him,” Auld says. “He was leading the championship, and then some things changed around. And so the way he responded to the media, the way he handled himself publicly, I think would make every Australian proud.
For Auld, what shines through is Piastri’s down-to-earth nature.
Piastri eats a sausage at a Bunnings promotion this week. Credit: Eddie Jim
“So although he doesn’t spend much time in Australia any more, the things he loves are very Australian,” Auld added. “He loves his AFL, he loves cricket and is unaffected by the fame that comes with F1.
“He’s still very much himself, and I think his parents would be very proud of that.”
Loading
Piastri and his mother Nicole have frequently collaborated with My Room, an organisation helping children with cancer.
Last year, Oscar was pictured meeting McLaren fan Kruz Seumanutafa, a young boy battling a rare form of leukaemia. Seumanutafa died in October.
“When we were at the F1 we knew he [Kruz] was terminal, but we put his diagnosis to the side,” mother Lauren Seumanutafa told this masthead.
“The hype of meeting Oscar Piastri was just something that our family was looking forward to on the lead up, and then once we did meet him, it’s just stuck with him [Kruz] and our whole family forever.
“Hopefully in the future, we’ll look back at that really hard time in our life, but I know this will be a highlight, Kruz got to meet Oscar.”
Lauren said the support the Piastri family had given them was incredible, sharing they had been sent personalised videos from Oscar and a bouquet of flowers when Kruz passed away.
The Seumanutafa family continue to admire Piastri, describing him as an amazing man.
“Honestly, I have no words, but he’s a true hero, and he gave Kruz so much hope, and like we have so much love for him. We really hope he will win this year,” Lauren said.
So, can Piastri dethrone Norris and win this year? Despite the papaya team’s dominance last season, the new 2026 regulations paint a complicated picture.
Piastri admits McLaren are not the favourites to win, though thinks the team is in the mix to be at the front.
“I don’t think the picture looks quite as positive for us at the moment as it did 12 months ago, but I think the big caveat to that for everyone is there’s so much potential still unexplored.”
With Lachlan Abbott and Daniel Brettig
News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport are sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.
