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Will Swanton is a sportswriter who’s won Walkley, Kennedy, Sport Australia and News Awards. He’s won the Melbourne Press Club’s Harry Gordon Award for Australian Sports Journalist of the Year.

Will Swanton

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Motorsport

McLaren's Australian driver Oscar Piastri attends a press conference at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir on April 10, 2025, ahead of the Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix weekend. (Photo by Fadel SENNA / AFP)

No lie, Oscar’s pumped to the Max

Max Verstappen is your typically gung-ho, devil-may-care, F1 alpha male. Oscar Piastri is so sensitive he may be picking daisies and reciting poetry this very moment.

Will Swanton

ATHLETICSSport

PERTH, AUSTRALIA - APRIL 10: Gout Gout of Queensland competes in the Men's U20 100m Final during the 2025 Australian Open and Under 20 Athletics Championships at WA Athletics Stadium on April 10, 2025 in Perth, Australia. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Gout breaks 10 seconds in the race he was born to run

Gout Gout is an enchanting, thrilling, hypnotising sight, perfectly built for sprinting, born to run. On a historic night in Perth, he twice clocked 9.99sec in the 100m.

Will Swanton

ATHLETICSSport

Australia's Gout Gout reacts after finishing second in the men's 200m event during the Maurie Plant Athletics Meet at Lakeside Stadium in Melbourne on March 29, 2025. (Photo by Martin KEEP / AFP) / -- IMAGE RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - STRICTLY NO COMMERCIAL USE --

How to treat Gout? The west goes wild

The sprinter’s real journey is a marathon as Gout Gout’s race to Brisbane Olympics begins.

Will Swanton

Formula 1Sport

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands, left, is accompanied with McLaren driver Lando Norris of Britain, center, and McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia, right, after qualifying session for the Japanese Formula One Grand Prix at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, central Japan, Saturday, April 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

‘Insane’ Verstappen ambushes Piastri to take pole at Suzuka

Oscar Piastri’s car was going so fast it shouted yippee. The young Australian looked set to start the Japanese Grand Prix from pole position – only for Max Verstappen to produce an even more thunderous lap.

Will Swanton

FORMULA ONEMotorsport

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia prepares to drive his car during the first practice session for the Japanese Formula One Grand Prix at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, central Japan, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

Aussie Piastri in a drag to the finish

Is the rivalry between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri about to match that of legendary McLaren duo of Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna?

Will Swanton

FORMULA ONESport

TOPSHOT - McLaren's Australian driver Oscar Piastri celebrates on the podium with his trophy after winning the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit in Shanghai on March 23, 2025. (Photo by JADE GAO / AFP)

Piastri hitting ‘new heights’ as McLaren’s wheels of fortune keep turning

F1 is booming for popularity and Piastri versus Norris promises to be a classic in-house fight. Euphoric for the winner, devastating for the loser. They have identical cars … may the best driver win.

Will Swanton

GOLFSport

HOUSTON, TEXAS - MARCH 30: Min Woo Lee of Australia celebrates with the trophy after winning the Texas Children's Houston Open 2025 at Memorial Park Golf Course on March 30, 2025 in Houston, Texas. Kenneth Richmond/Getty Images/AFP (Photo by Kenneth Richmond / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

Rocking Masters hype, Woo stock soars

He’s a bristling, unique, hot-and-cold talent and he his heading to the US Masters as a contender after winning the Houston Open.

Will Swanton

FORMULA ONEMotorsport

McLaren's Australian driver Oscar Piastri competes during the Australian Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne on March 16, 2025. (Photo by WILLIAM WEST / AFP) / -- IMAGE RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - STRICTLY NO COMMERCIAL USE --

Piastri hits skid row, blames nobody but himself

It was lap 44 of 57 when Oscar Piastri came a cropper. In the McLaren garage, his mother yelled “No! No! No!”

Will Swanton

Australian Grand PrixMotorsport

McLaren's Australian driver Oscar Piastri speaks at a press conference after coming in second in the qualifying session of the Formula One Australian Grand Prix at the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne on March 15, 2025. (Photo by WILLIAM WEST / AFP) / -- IMAGE RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - STRICTLY NO COMMERCIAL USE --

Australia’s F1 dreams refuse to be dampened by weather

As rain tumbles down at Albert Park, Oscar Piastri’s team says it is prepared for all scenarios the weather may bring as its young star chases a special Aussie achievement.

Will Swanton

FORMULA ONE:Motorsport

McLaren's Australian driver Oscar Piastri looks on in his car during the first practice session of the Formula One Australian Grand Prix at the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne on March 14, 2025. (Photo by Saeed KHAN / AFP) / -- IMAGE RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - STRICTLY NO COMMERCIAL USE --

And the Oscar goes to … the podium and then the world?

Can Oscar Piastri be world champion? ‘One hundred per cent,’ says McLaren boss Zak Brown. ‘And I wouldn’t bet against him this year.’

Will Swanton

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/will-swanton/page/8