If you want to know how Oscar Piastri fared in any particular Formula 1 grand prix, you only need to check his mother’s Pilates schedule.
When Piastri claimed his maiden grand prix win in Hungary, Nicole Piastri posted to social media: “6am Pilates just cancelled.”
Oscar Piastri embraces his mother, Nicole, after his win in Baku. Credit: Getty Images
Early morning exercise was off the table again last Sunday when Piastri won his second grand prix, this time in Azerbaijan: “Definitely no Pilates for me tomorrow,” posted Nicole.
Her son is fast becoming one of Australia’s most successful sportspeople on the global stage, but it says a bit about his understated profile that we know almost as much about his mum as we do about him. As his career booms, so does his social media presence. He boasts almost 3 million Instagram followers and more than 840,000 on X. Nicole’s X following of 120,000 is not too shabby, either.
He is different from the Australians who have preceded him in the high-octane, high-stakes world of Formula 1. The outspoken Mark Webber, who is Piastri’s manager, publicly railed against his Red Bull teammate, Sebastian Vettel, and celebrated his two Monaco Grand Prix victories in 2010 and 2012 with dramatic somersaults into the Red Bull pool. Daniel Ricciardo, of the megawatt smile, became famous for drinking champagne from his shoe after his race wins.
But when Piastri held his nerve to execute what many described as the perfect race in Baku last weekend, the thrilled Australian hugged his mum, collected his trophy with a smile and went home.
Nicole Piastri says her son is just as composed off the grid as he is on it.
“He’s always been like that. I’ve always said that he’s painfully mature. He’s like an old man in a young man’s body,” she said.
“Oscar’s been independent since the day he was born, to the point where on his first day of primary school when he was five, he was very annoyed that I insisted on walking him to school.”
So, what do we know about Piastri, who, in his second full season as an F1 driver, is only the fifth Australian to win grands prix, after Sir Jack Brabham (14 wins), Alan Jones (12), Webber (nine), and Ricciardo (eight)?
Nicole says Oscar’s three younger sisters, Hattie, Edie, and Mae, help keep him grounded. “There is no fanfare, and they have no qualms bringing him back down to earth very quickly,” she said.
“I love that he comes home and just slots straight back into it like he’s never left. I honestly don’t think there’s anywhere [else] in the world now that Oscar can go where he’s not treated special.”
He lives in Monaco, where he bought an apartment in the same neighbourhood as Novak Djokovic and U2 frontman Bono, but also spends time in the UK where his F1 team, McLaren, is based. He met his girlfriend, Lily Zneimer, at boarding school in England, and they like to holiday together when the hectic motor sport circuit allows.
In an interview with this masthead in 2023, Piastri described himself as an introvert. “I enjoy spending time by myself,” he said.
Piastri mixes with sporting royalty, facing up to England fast bowler Jimmy Anderson during a tour of McLaren headquarters, joking on social media that he could take a set from Italian tennis champion Jannik Sinner, and meeting Australian Test cricket captain Pat Cummins and NBA star Patty Mills.
He and his management team have deliberately kept things low-key as he earned his stripes on the Formula 1 circuit, also conscious of the public backlash over his high-profile transition from Alpine to McLaren before he even made his debut.
Nicole said it was difficult to see her son’s character questioned by the public.
“He was seen as a traitor and arrogant and that was very difficult to sit back and watch him be portrayed as that, and then watching people buy into that,” she said. “We had to just sit back and go, ‘People will work it out in time. They will see who you are, and it will all work out.’ It wasn’t the right thing to do to just scream from the rooftops, ‘No, he’s not like that.’
“He’s very loyal, he’s very honest, and he’s very fair. I don’t think I’m telling people anything now that they haven’t seen, but back when he first came on the scene, he was being portrayed as the opposite of that.”
Piastri, the driver, is not ruled by emotion, and his composure was tested during his maiden win in Hungary in July, when teammate Lando Norris was ordered by his team to let the young Australian pass him, but left it until the third-last lap to let him through.
“Hungary was complicated. So I knew that the next win that he had was going to be one that he would really celebrate,” Nicole said.
Piastri is fourth in the world championship standings before this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix, and has more points from the past 10 races than anyone including teammate Norris and superstar Max Verstappen. He explained that his calm demeanour should not be mistaken for a lack of passion.
Oscar Piastri celebrates with his McLaren team after his victory in Baku.Credit: Getty Images
“There’s been a lot of tough situations throughout my career where you need to get your elbows out. I think I said last year, I don’t want to be seen as a pest on track, but you have to earn your respect,” he told Sky Sports recently.
“I feel like that’s something that I’ve done and tried to race people hard but fair. I definitely think I’m ruthless enough, but it doesn’t have to come at the expense of being calm and a nice person as well.”
Piastri may not yet have the star power or spiky personality of some of the Netflix Drive to Survive generation, but sports management expert Adam Karg, from Deakin University, says there is nothing to stop him from becoming Australia’s most celebrated F1 driver.
“As someone who’s in their second season and having early success, if that trajectory continues, he will build his global awareness,” he said.
Karg said while athletes with big personalities often capture the limelight, from a marketing perspective, brands are interested in working with athletes who carry their values – and Piastri does just that.
“The position that Oscar finds himself in, with a good team, the performance growing, having won multiple races already – commercially, he is the right fit for a number of brands and I think that will grow,” he said.
For Australian Grand Prix Corporation chair Martin Pakula, the signs of a star in the making are obvious. He described having a Melbourne product not only on the grid, but contending, as an “unbelievable opportunity” for the Albert Park event, which is the first race of the season next year.
“I’ve spent a little bit of time with Oscar and Mark before a couple of races this year and, for a young bloke, the thing that stands out is his calmness and his focus. It’s something else,” Pakula said.
“We’ve got a Melbourne local with a genuine chance of being a race winner and perhaps even a world champion. You can’t put a value on what that means for our event.“
With Sam McClure
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