EXCLUSIVE
If there’s one thing you shouldn’t joke about as an Australian in England, it’s The Ashes. Unless you’re Oscar Piastri.
The biennial event captures the globe, and separates two closely-linked nations in a one-vs-one international rivalry that’s unparalleled in scale and regularity.
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So when Melbourne native Piastri aimed a dig at the home Silverstone crowd with his country 2-0 up last summer, he could have easily expected them to turn on him.
However, so loved is the McLaren megastar, the affection only rose, and this year at the British Grand Prix, it reached fever-pitch.
Racing for the team in Papaya in front of their home fans may have helped, but on the ground it seemed like Piastri was an even bigger fan favourite than Norfolk’s race winner George Russell.
And when it was put to the 23-year-old by talkSPORT that only Lewis Hamilton and teammate Lando Norris were earning more love than him, he wasn’t exactly shocked.
“That's cool, and to be honest, you're not the first person that's told me that,” he replied. “So, I know you're not just trying to make me feel better.
“It's really cool. I felt even last year when I raced at Silverstone, I was slightly surprised at how many cheers I got.
“We had individual cars for the drivers' parade, and I actually got a few cheers, which as an Aussie felt a bit weird. But very cool.
“Last year was an Ashes year and I still got cheered. I had people chanting my name in the middle of The Ashes. And I even reminded the crowd that Australia was 2-0 up, but for some reason they were cheering me on again.”
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Looking for answers to one of Formula 1’s more unlikely relationships leads us back to Piastri’s childhood, moving over to what he calls his ‘second home’ in England aged just 14 to compete with the best and progress up the ranks.
Progress he did, winning Formula 3 and Formula 2 at the first time of asking, before becoming the most eagerly anticipated addition to the grid since Russell back in 2018.
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He did so with a level of class and sportsmanship that British fans loved, and when an almighty tussle for his signature took place between McLaren and Alpine in the summer of 2022, Piastri handled a career-defining drama with decorum when it could have easily ruined a less dignified prospect.
That wasn’t an anomaly either, in his racing career he’s marked himself out as the one guy out of the 20-man grid who will do his talking on the track, when again, others would easily lose their cool.
There have now been multiple occasions, even at Silverstone last time out, where McLaren’s strategy has favoured Norris, and despite often appearing visibly upset, Piastri keeps his calm and moves onto the next one.
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All of that, combined with an affable personality and a few iconic memes, has made him a fan favourite - even in England - and you’ll be hard-pressed to find an F1 enthusiast who isn’t desperate to see him take his first race win.
A sprint race victory in Qatar last year was as close as Piastri’s got, but his teamwork and ability to help build McLaren forward has put the team in good stead to add to their one and only win of 2024, with Norris, back in Miami.
Now hitting a string of races where the Aussie showed his best form in his debut season, there’s every chance he could be F1’s next race winner, and he’s feeling confident.
“I think Austria probably wasn't a track where I expected to be so close. Monaco either,” he explained, reflecting on two second-place finishes.
“I think as a team, we surprised ourselves a little bit with our competitiveness, but I don't really want to put it down to a single track.
“We certainly didn't expect to win in Miami after the last couple of years we had there. So, we'll see. I think we've had a couple of near misses, a couple of close opportunities, and I think with the car that we've got now, we'll have more.
“It does feel close, I think the last eight or nine races, I think either Lando or I have finished first or second, and obviously third at Silverstone. But we've been incredibly close a lot of times now.
“If Silverstone had gone a bit differently in a couple of moments, then that was a close one as well. So, it feels like we're getting very, very close and there are going to be opportunities in the future. We just need to make sure that we capitalise on them.”
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Hungary is next, a track that could favour Piastri, and as the cheapest-to-attend Grand Prix on the calendar and no local heroes, it features fans from all over the world turning up in their droves.
With that in mind, you can be sure that decent proportion will be cheering on the man who is likely F1’s next race winner, and that may well give him the edge to cement his status as motorsport’s newest megastar.