Oscar Piastri Grabs Maiden Points Finish In His Home Race In Australia

After all the silly season saga last year, Oscar Piastri was set to arrive with a bang in Formula 1 this year. Driving for McLaren and replacing Daniel Ricciardo, expectations were high from the Australian as he set off to make a mark in the pinnacle of motorsport. But Piastri suffered from a crash in the opening race in Bahrain, and due to the lack of pace of the MCL60, he could only manage to finish P15 in the Saudi Arabian GP. The Aussie however, recovered well from the opening two races, scoring his first points in Formula 1 in his first ever home race at Melbourne. 

“What better place to do it than at home.” “I think we were there when it mattered and, whatever bad luck we had in the first two races, I think came out as good luck today, so we avoided all the carnage there at the end when we needed to be”, Oscar Piastri said after the race. “I think in clean air, the pace was pretty solid for both me and [team mate] Lando [Norris]. For me, [I] just got stuck behind Yuki [Tsunoda] for too long and kind of got dragged out of the race, so a few things to improve from my side, but for now just happy to be in the points at home.”

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With Lando Norris also finishing in P6 ahead of Piastri in P8, McLaren managed to score a decent chunk of points in Australia. The good result for the team - albeit in the midst of chaos - puts it up into P5 in the constructors championship.