With the Australian GP returning as the F1 season opener in 2025, it was all perfectly set up for Oscar Piastri to kick off his third F1 season in style at home. McLaren had the quickest car and Piastri had the pace to fulfill the one dream that every F1 driver covets—winning a Grand Prix in front of their home crowd. However, it all unraveled for the Aussie!
Having started the race briskly in changeable conditions at Albert Park, Piastri soon started to lap quicker in P2 than his teammate Lando Norris who was leading. However, when the rain returned in the final part of the race, the #81 driver made a blunder as he went off track on the grass and was stuck there for almost a minute. Imagine the agony of the home hero!
While he was just a few tenths off Norris—who had also gone off track just moments ago, but recovered quickly—Piastri dropped outside the points as the whole field pitted for intermediate tires. Even though he made a late charge to finish ninth, it was a huge missed opportunity for the Melbourne-born driver to at least secure a podium in his home Grand Prix.
With no Australian driver having graced the podium in any F1 world championship race Down Under since 1985, let alone win the race, Piastri missed out on creating history. So, it makes sense why he would have felt horrible after he made that error. Reflecting on the anguish he suffered after the Australian GP, Piastri stated that his win in China the very next weekend was super crucial for helping him move on from this gut-wrenching loss.
“I mean definitely the next 24-48 hours were pretty tough after that,” the 24-year-old said in an interview with ESPN ahead of this weekend’s Miami GP. “When you’re looking for a good result, I think also after the fact, it kind of hits that you know, home Grand Prix home podium. So that, yeah, that hurt a little bit”.
Fortunately, after this “painful” experience in Melbourne, Piastri’s redemption came with a flawless performance in Shanghai, just seven days later—finishing second in the sprint race, taking the Grand Prix pole and the victory. “It was a nice thing that we had a race the next weekend,” he added.
“It was even nicer and sweeter that I went out and won the next weekend. So, that definitely helped my mood quite a lot”.
Ever since Piastri won at the Shanghai International Circuit, he has been extremely consistent. While he secured a decent third-place finish in Japan, the Aussie went on to win two consecutive Grands Prix in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
PIAS-THREE
Three race wins secured this season by Oscar Piastri #F1 #SaudiArabianGP pic.twitter.com/tBzwyehyUx
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 20, 2025
In fact, these consistently strong results have helped him usurp Norris—who is descending into a vicious loop of bad form—as the drivers’ championship leader. Piastri currently leads the #4 driver by 10 points and seems to have nullified the hype around Norris who was the pre-season title favorite.
The Melbourne-born driver has basically thrown down the gauntlet to stake his claim on the 2025 world title, against all expectations that deemed Norris would be the McLaren driver to do so.
Moreover, if Piastri continues to perform better than the Briton, McLaren may also need to reassess their strategies. The team might have to favor the Australian to ensure that he gets the maximum points from every race weekend, and McLaren continue to be the favorite to win both championships this season.
