Oscar Piastri achieved his lifelong dream of becoming an F1 race winner at the Hungarian GP last weekend, and there were very few as happy as his mother Nicole. It was past midnight in Australia when she saw her son cross the chequered flag at the Hungaroring, but Nicole was emotional and elated.
When asked what she told Oscar in the immediate aftermath of the race, Nicole replied (as reported by The Sunday Morning Herald), “I just said: ‘I am so proud of you and I love you”. Unfortunately, the McLaren driver could not call her after the race, insisting that he would once he traveled back home (Monaco).
— Nicole Piastri (@NicolePiastri) July 21, 2024
Nicole went on to talk about Oscar’s childhood, and all the sacrifices he made over the years to get where he is today. The Melbourne-born driver had to leave his country at a young age, to climb the ranks and ultimately reach F1. But looking back on the journey today, Nicole can’t help but swell with pride.
“You can’t be unhappy when their [your children’s] dreams are coming true. As a parent that’s ultimately all you want really, for them to be happy. I would have loved for him to be able to do that from home, like the European kids, but I can’t complain”.
Oscar’s win, however, was in danger at one point. Not because of his driving, but because McLaren’s bizarre strategy call put Lando Norris (his teammate) in the lead, with just over 10 laps to go. Norris gave P1 back to Oscar, but emotions would have been very different had the former stayed put.
Nicole Piastri talks about the alternate ending to Oscar’s race
Oscar made no mistakes throughout the Grand Prix, taking the lead right from the get-go. Had it not been for McLaren’s call, he would likely have led the race right until the end. As such, a loss because of McLaren would have been heartbreaking.
Baz and Rosie not quite as excited…. pic.twitter.com/ED6nDlxpss
— Nicole Piastri (@NicolePiastri) July 21, 2024
Nicole, however, said that Oscar would be fine.
“If it didn’t go his way last night, he would just channel that. I don’t know if that [win] changes a lot. He’ll just keep on doing what he does. His mindset, he doesn’t tend to rely on wins. He feeds more off the negative than the positive and channels that”.
In the end, both Nicole and Oscar slept happily that night. It made the latter a Grand Prix winner, and with McLaren’s development going strong, there would be many more opportunities for the duo to celebrate victories like this.
