With his win overnight at the Hungarian Grand Prix, Oscar Piastri joins an elite group of Australian Formula One drivers to take the chequered flag.
Piastri is just the fifth Aussie to win a F1 race, after Jack Brabham (14 wins and three world championships), Alan Jones (12 wins and one world championship), Mark Webber (9 wins), and Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo (8 wins).
Starting at the front of the grid, the Melbourne-born speedster edged McLaren teammate Lando Norris, while seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) completed the podium in third.
At the Hungaroring, Piastri qualified second-fastest, just 0.022secs behind Norris, but the Aussie took the lead in first turn — and stayed there.
Norris added spice to the race when he threatened to pip Piastri, only relinquishing the lead in the final laps following stern words from team officials.
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It all threatened to come unstuck for the Aussie, when Norris, who had benefited from a strategic pit stop, closed the gap on his teammate late and appeared keen to disobey team orders.
McLaren race engineers Will Joseph and Tom Stallard delivered a direct order for Norris to back off from the Aussie Norris, a back-and-forth that has been described as “fiery.”
“The way to win a championship is not by yourself, it’s with the team, you are going to need Oscar and you are going to need the team,” said Joseph, Norris’ race engineer, with five laps to go.
Cooler heads prevailed. Following the race, Piastri, 23, described the win as “very, very special. This is the day I dreamed of as a kid, standing on the top step of the podium.” He added, “a bit complicated at the end, but I put myself in a good position off the start.” The car “is a beast at the moment, fast in every condition.”
Hungary gives Piastri the full 25 points, and a fifth podium in his young F1 career. That’s after winning last year’s Qatar sprint, technically not a race “win”.
Ricciardo finished outside the points in Hungary in 12th place.
