After the disappointment of the British Grand Prix (read more about that later in the gallery), Oscar Piastri was back on top of the world with a commanding win in deplorable conditions at Spa in the Belgian Grand Prix, extending his lead back to 16 points in the driver’s championship. Photo by Dimitar DILKOFF / AFP

In wet conditions, Piastri, who had finished second in the sprint race behind Max Verstappen on Saturday, qualified second behind his teammate Lando Norris for Sunday’s race. Wet weather saw the race begin under safety car but Piastri pounced almost immediately, taking a lead he never relinquished. Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

It wasn’t completely smooth sailing for the Aussie though who had Norris coming hard at the end of the race as both men took a one-stop strategy with Norris having the better compound. But three costly mistakes saw the Aussie claim his sixth win of the season. He was happy with the win, saying over team radio “Nicely done … nicely f***ing done”. Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

The result sees Piastri out to a 16 point lead over Norris and 81 point lead over Max Verstappen in third with one race before the summer break, setting up what seems to be a two-horse, one team race for the McLaren team. Piastri has rightfully been praised for the result, which was his eighth win in Formula 1. And in a beautiful scene, his grandfather, who had travelled to Belgium to see Oscar race for the first time on foreign soil, gave him a hug after the race. Oscar then dedicated the victory to his granddad including writing his name on the winner’s champagne bottle.

The result sees Piastri pull level with Daniel Ricciardo for career wins. However for Ricciardo that was over 258 races and 13 years, while Piastri is at just 59 races in his third year in the sport and there are undoubtedly going to be more wins to come. He is just one win behind his mentor Mark Webber, while only 1980 world champion Alan Jones (12 wins) and three-time world champion Jack Brabham (14 wins) sit ahead of Piastri on the list of Aussie Grand Prix winners. However, Oscar also stands alone as the first Aussie to win six races in a single season. Photo by Dan Istitene – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images

But while Piastri has pulled level with Ricciardo on eight wins in 199 less races than the ex-Aussie driver, it was Ricciardo’s former and Piastri’s current teammate Norris who had the most telling swipe. “For sure (Piastri is my best teammate),” Norris said. “I’m the one that looks at his data the most, that compares things the most. His raw speed, his talent, his ability to do things, to level up, to take steps forward when he needs to is better than what I’ve seen from my other teammates. It makes my life tougher, but in a good way because it makes me better.” And for now, Piastri appears to be the man to beat for the championship. Photo by Mark Sutton – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images

It’s been an eventful season from the outset with McLaren widely considered to be the favourites for the 2025 season after taking out the 2024 constructor’s championship. Take a look at season that’s been so far. Photo by Ben STANSALL / AFP

Oscar Piastri had finished fourth behind 2024 drivers champion Max Verstappen, McLaren teammate Lando Norris, and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and entered the new season focused on improving in qualifying after being behind Norris 21 times in 2024. Photo by Zak Mauger/Getty Images

Expectation only increased when Oscar Piastri declared the McLaren had run “faultlessly” during three days of pre-season testing in Bahrain. Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images

Piastri ended the third day of pre-season testing in fourth place on the timesheets. (Photo by FADEL SENNA / AFP)

It was all smiles between McLaren teammates Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri at Albert Park. Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images

Piastri and Melbourne looked an absolute picture during the third practice session for race one of the season. Photo by WILLIAM WEST / AFP

There were smiles all around in the McLaren garage after Oscar Piastri qualified second fastest for the Melbourne Grand Prix behind teammate Lando Norris. Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images

But race day was a different story for the Aussie as an error on lap 44 saw Piastri give up second position behind Norris and falling down the leaderboard. “That is heartbreak for Oscar Piastri … his race is ruined,” Sky Sports commentator David Croft said. He eventually finished ninth. Picture: Formula 1

Piastri was gutted by the result, which cost him the opportunity to be the first Aussie winner of the race since Alan Jones in 1980. “I feel like every lap apart from one, I drove an incredibly strong race. It’s just a shame not to have the result to show for it. I obviously don’t have anyone to blame for it but myself. I think it was probably a bit unfortunate to got stuck (on the grass) the way I did. But it was only myself that put me there." Photo: Fox Sports

Outside of the result, it was a great weekend for Piastri as Aussie fans swarmed around their new star before the Melbourne Grand Prix. Picture: David Caird

Piastri fever gripped Melbourne ahead of the opening race of the season. A mural was painted at Luna Park. Picture: Mark Stewart

It was a different story in the second race of the season as Oscar narrowed Norris’ lead with a 32 point weekend thanks to a race win and sprint race second in China. Photo by GREG BAKER / AFP

Lewis Hamilton took out the China sprint ahead of the young Aussie. Piastri had started in third behind Hamilton and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen but moved up to the second step by the end to start off his weekend on the right foot. Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images

It got even better when he qualified on pole and drove a “flawless” race to notch the third win of his career. Photo by HECTOR RETAMAL / AFP

For McLaren, it was a huge result with Norris claiming second — but it also saw his lead cut from 23 points to just 10 (44-34) as Piastri showed he meant business. Photo by JADE GAO / AFP

In a reminder you can only do so much, Piastri and Norris had a frustrating time at the Japanese Grand Prix. Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images

After Max Verstappen showed he was still a force in the driver’s championship with a strong pole, Norris had to settle for second and Piastri third at the Suzuka Circuit. Unfortunately they couldn’t improve from there as that was also the race result. Photo by Toshifumi KITAMURA / AFP

While Verstappen and Norris got their elbows out, Piastri maintained a strong start to the season with yet another podium (which would become a bit of a trend). But Norris edged further ahead (62-49). Photo by Philip FONG / AFP

The Aussie had a lonely weekend, dominating qualifying before romping to a 15 second victory over Mercedes’ George Russell. Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images

Norris was back in third. Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images

We’ll never get tired of that! The result saw Piastri cut the lead again with Norris up 77-74. Photo by Giuseppe CACACE / AFP

In Saudi Arabia, it was more of the same as Piastri claimed back-to-back wins and moved to the top of the drivers standings. Photo by Mark Sutton – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)

After qualifying in second, Piastri was “ice cold” as he forced pole sitter Max Verstappen wide, only for the Red Bull star to be given a five-second penalty after he left the track an took advantage. Photo by Giuseppe CACACE / AFP

In comparison, it was a disaster for Norris, who qualified 10th after a crash in qualifying before fighting back to finish fourth. But it saw Piastri take the lead in the driver’s championship for the first time in his career, moving to 99 points ahead of Norris on 89. Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images

Round 6 in Miami was an interesting week with Piastri qualifying second behind Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli and ahead of Norris, only for Norris to pinch the win the sprint ahead of Piastri. Photo by Hector Vivas / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

But despite his worst qualifying of the year where the Aussies started in fourth, he avoided the early chaos to take the race lead on lap 15 and never looked back. It was another 1-2 for McLaren with Piastri extending his lead to 131-115. Photo by Hector Vivas/Getty Images

In the seventh race of the year at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, Piastri claimed pole yet again and it seemed like the show was just about to go on for the Aussie. Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images

But a slow start saw Piastri drop down after a brilliant lunge from Max Verstappen. A strategy blunder saw the Aussie drop down further as he claimed third behind Verstappen and Norris. Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images

The boy clearly hates to lose. It also cut his lead over Norris to 146-133 Photo by Andrej ISAKOVIC / AFP

The second Lando Norris claimed pole ahead of Charles Leclerc and Piastri, it was always going to be hard for anyone else to win in race 8 in Monaco. Photo by Gabriel BOUYS / AFP

It was a team effort at McLaren but the result cut Piastri’s lead again, this time to 161-158. Photo by Gabriel BOUYS / AFP

It returned to regular programming in Spain with Piastri going from pole to a fifth win of the season. Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images

It was another 1-2 for Piastri and Norris. But the fifth win of the year puts the 24-year-old in rare air as just the third Aussie to claim five wins in a season after Sir Jack Brabham in 1960 and Alan Jones 1980. Photo by Andrea Diodato/NurPhoto via Getty Images

The result meant that Piastri returned to a 10 point lead – going 186-176 in the driver’s championship. Photo by Andrea Diodato/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Round 10 in Canada was a culmination of the competition between the two McLaren’s with Piastri coming out the better. While Piastri could only manage fourth in the race, Norris did not finish after he took on the Aussie. Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

It got a bit spicy between the teammates with Norris taking a lunge around the outside of Piastri and finding the wall. Norris took responsibility for the incident, telling team radio: “I’m sorry, it’s all my bad. All my fault. Unlucky, sorry, stupid from me”. It also saw Piastri move to 198-176 — opening up his biggest buffer of the year. Photo: Fox Sports

Piastri remained at the top of the driver’s championship but Lando Norris cut into his lead with a much needed win in round 11 in Austria. Photo: AP Photo/Darko Bandic

After Piastri was third in qualifying behind pole sitter Norris, the pair had their own race, finishing two seconds apart and another 17 seconds ahead of Charles Leclerc in third. Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images

The result trimmed Piastri’s lead again to 216-201 but the boys enjoyed another champagne shower on the top step. Photo by Joe Portlock/Getty Images

The British Grand Prix saw Piastri’s world championship lead trimmed back to single digits after the season was turned on its head yet again. Photo by Andrej ISAKOVIC / AFP

There was traditional English weather (meaning it was bucketing down rain), but Piastri had taken the lead and opened up a 15-second gap when the FIA decided the track was too wet, sending out a safety car which brought all the drivers together. Piastri made a huge error though, seemingly brake checking Max Verstappen and forcing the Red Bull driver to overtake him. While this has happened multiple times in similar situations with lesser or no penalties, Piastri was slapped with a 10-second penalty. Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images

It was frustrating for Piastri, as he finished second to teammate Lando Norris by seven seconds. But the reaction was swift with fans calling it “absolutely insane” — although there was plenty of reaction on both sides. Even Max Verstappen, who was the main driver affected said: “I saw after the race he got a 10s penalty for it. That is also very, very extreme, 10 seconds. but oh well, I don’t make the rules.” Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images

Piastri tried requesting a switch between the drivers but it fell on deaf ears. “Oscar, I know how you feel about that. Let’s talk about it once we’re out of the car,” his team said. Piastri replied: “Yep, I think I’ll get myself banned for the year if I say anything here. Thanks for the effort.” He was clearly feeling it after the result. Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images

“I thought the penalty … was pretty bad,” Piastri said after the race. “But anyway we had a quick car today, showed what I needed to prove. Just disappointing when the result you deserve gets taken from you, but that’s how it goes sometimes.” Piastri still lead’s the driver’s championship but it’s now 234-226. Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images