‘I am so proud of you and I love you’: Mum’s words of joy for Oscar the great
By Jon Pierik
McLaren driver Oscar Piastri may be flying high after getting his first Formula 1 race win, but he will still make time to give his proud mum a call back home in Australia.
Piastri took victory in dramatic circumstances on Monday (AEST) after McLaren teammate Lando Norris was forced to step aside in the final stages of the Hungarian Grand Prix.
An excited but tired Nicole Piastri watched from her bayside home when Piastri crossed the line in Budapest, and soon shared a text message with her son.
She told this masthead of her pride in Oscar, though she hadn’t been able to talk to him yet.
“I just said: ‘I am so proud of you and I love you’,” Nicole said when asked of her immediate chat with Oscar, who said he would call his mum when he returned to his home base in Monaco.
“It’s definitely his dream. It’s definitely only one [win], but he has achieved one of his dreams, so it’s a big one,” Nicole said.
Piastri left his family, including three sisters, at the tender age of 14 to head to Europe and pursue his F1 dream. That began with a year of karting, before progressing through the ranks, including Formula 3 and Formula 2 world titles.
There was a much-publicised contract dispute with Alpine in 2022, a favourable ruling by the FIA’s contract recognition board allowing him to join McLaren, where he eventually took the seat of fellow Australian Daniel Ricciardo.
“It’s very special, this is the day I dreamed of as a kid, standing on the top step of an F1 podium,” Piastri, who became Australia’s fifth Formula 1 race winner, said.
“Obviously, a bit complicated at the end, but I put myself in the right position at the start, and thank you to the team for an amazing effort and an amazing car. It’s a hell of a lot of fun racing with McLaren, so I can’t thank them enough for giving me the opportunity to be in F1. To have a win together 18 months in is an incredible feeling.”
Australian winners of Formula 1 grands prix
- Jack Brabham (1955-1970) 14 wins
- Alan Jones (1975-81, 1983, 1985-86) 12 wins
- Mark Webber 2002-2013 - 9 wins
- Daniel Ricciardo - 2011-2024 - 8 wins
- Oscar Piastri - 2023-2024 - 1 win
PODIUM FINISHERS
Webber 42, Ricciardo 32, Brabham 31, Jones 24, Piastri 5, Tim Schenken (1970-1974) 1
Piastri’s breakthrough win has cemented his position as the face of F1 in Australia.
Nicole said her son was prospering from the sacrifices he had made.
“He has worked really hard. He has made a lot of sacrifices. Moving overseas on his own at 14, it’s really lovely to see, as a mum, that dream come to fruition,” she said.
It wasn’t initially easy to watch her son leave, but Nicole said the joy of the Hungarian victory reinforced why it had been the right call.
“I don’t want to sound heartless, but I think it’s very different when he desperately, desperately wanted to go, and he created an opportunity where he had a spot in a team to go to. It’s hard, as much as I would have loved for him to be around, I mean, yeah, it was easy knowing he was so happy, so excited. He just loved it,” Nicole said.
“You can’t be unhappy when their [your children’s] dreams are coming true. As a parent that’s ultimately all you want really, for them to be happy. I would have loved for him to be able to do that from home, like the European kids, but I can’t complain.”
While Dutch gun Max Verstappen already appears to have locked up this year’s world championship, with Norris 76 points behind in second spot, Piastri has the application, skills and the sound management and advice of agent and former Australian Formula 1 star Mark Webber to seriously challenge for the title next year and become only the third Australian to be an F1 world champion.
Piastri has endured a frustrating second year on the circuit, finishing second in Monaco, while a pit stop drama at the British Grand Prix ended his hopes for victory. After a bright start, he was on the end of team orders in Miami when Norris claimed victory. In Melbourne, the home-town hero was ordered to move aside for Norris, finishing fourth.
2024 HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX FINISHING ORDER
- Oscar Piastri (McLaren) 1:38:01.989
- Lando Norris (McLaren) +2.141 sec
- Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) +14.880
- Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +19.686
- Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +21.349
- Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) +23.073
- Sergio Perez (Red Bull) +39.792
- George Russell (Mercedes) +42.368
- Yuki Tsunoda (RB) +1:17.259
- Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +1:17.976
- Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +1:22.460
- Daniel Ricciardo (RB) +1 lap
- Nico Hulkenberg (Haas) +1 lap
- Alexander Albon (Williams) +1 lap
- Kevin Magnussen (Haas) +1 lap
- Valtteri Bottas (Sauber) +1 lap
- Logan Sargeant (Williams) +1 lap
- Esteban Ocon (Alpine) +1 lap
- Zhou Guanyu (Sauber) +1 lap
- Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +37 laps
Nicole said her son was built to overcome adversity.
“Oscar typically rises with adversities. If it didn’t go his way last night, he would just channel that. I don’t know if that [win] changes a lot. He’ll just keep on doing what he does. His mindset, he doesn’t tend to rely on wins. He feeds more off the negative than the positive and channels that,” Nicole said.
“It will be business as usual for the next few days, and he’ll get ready for the next race.”
Asked where that ability to channel negativity derived from, Nicole said renowned mind coach Emma Murray, who has worked with a range of sports stars and teams, including Richmond through their three premierships (Piastri, incidentally, is a Tigers supporter), had played an important role in her son’s rise.
“I think that’s naturally always been in him. I just really admire his ability to focus and compartmentalise. He has always been able to do that,” Nicole said.
“But he has worked for years with Emma Murray. I think she has just honed those skills beautifully. I think she always said, he has had it. It’s been five years she has been working with him.
“She is very much ‘you can focus on the now, and what you can do right now’, so when things go bad as they inevitably do in motorsport, I think she would be the best person to teach Oscar how to move past that very quickly.”
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