Private jets, Bono and the world’s most exclusive club: Inside the world of Formula 1’s Oscar Piastri
It is the most exclusive club in sport. And, for Australian star Oscar Piastri, it’s opened the door to a whole new world - one of private jets, five-star hotels and the most famous neighbours in the world.
He is the hottest driver on the F1 grid and now Australian star Oscar Piastri is ready to show the full personality of the driver behind the helmet.
Despite all the buzz that Piastri is creating in the F1 paddock, winning his last start in Azerbaijan immediately after placing second at Monza, he still remains something of an enigma to many Australians who still haven’t realised how talented and committed a driver he actually is.
Part of that is because his road to F1 was forged in Europe after he left his homeland as a teenager and moved to England and a boarding school to pursue his lofty ambitions.
It was a huge gamble that came with no guarantees but it paid off when he won the F3 and F2 titles to thrust himself into the F1 shop window.
Suddenly in high demand, Piastri unwittingly got caught in the crossfire of a contract dispute between McLaren and Alpine.
He made the smart decision in signing with McLaren but copped a bit of flak over the way it all played out so Piastri consciously kept quiet in his first season on the grid in 2023 - which suited his personality to a tee.
While he is highly intelligent and possesses a sharp wit and laconic sense of humour, Piastri doesn’t go around blowing his own trumpet and actively seeking the limelight.
Instead, he’s exhibited a calmness and maturity way beyond his years, embodying the central message from Rudyard Kipling’s stoic poem “If” by treating success and failure the same.
“I think the under the radar approach was a very, very sensible thing to do,” Piastri said
“Of course, I tried to get my personality out there when I could but first and foremost, I was there to try and secure my future in F1 and show people that I mean business.
“I’m not here just to make up the numbers or be funny on the radio. I’m here to try and win races, first and foremost.”
Piastri lets his results do the talking and they’re starting to stack up with impressive regularity to the point he is fourth in the championship standings ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix this weekend with two wins under his belt and the most points won through the European leg of the F1 calendar.
Code Sports sat down with Piastri in Monaco during one of his rare days back in his new home town to talk about his journey to the top and how he’s managed his introduction to the high octane world for Formula One.
LIVING THE DREAM
Like everyone who makes it to Formula One, Piastri landed himself one of those jobs that are so chic they never get advertised.
Had it been posted, the Australian might have found himself up against a million or more other applicants because the perks that come with being a Grand Prix driver really are as wild as they appear.
Of course, there’s always that mortal danger attached to sitting behind the wheel of a car that clocks speeds in excess of 350 km/h, but the payoffs outweigh the risks for the lucky few who get recruited into sport’s most exclusive club.
“It’s a lot of fun. For me, my job is not really a job. It’s very much in inverted commas that I call it a job,” Piastri said.
“It’s a helluva lot of fun. It is busy. And there’s certainly parts of the job that aren’t as glamorous as maybe people think.
“But when you get to drive the fastest cars in the world, then, yeah, it’s a pretty cool job.”
Not that this scenario is likely to happen, but if a recruitment agency ever did decide to publish a notification for a vacancy as an F1 driver, they would need to include a disclaimer confirming the fantasy job description and benefits that come with it are for real.
For starters, the wages are astronomical, with the average annual salary estimated to be $20 million, not including sponsorships and endorsements. Triple world champion Max Verstappen is the highest earner, raking in an eye-watering $82 million a season.
With that sort of coin, it’s no surprise that these young daredevils have plenty of fancy toys and all live in exotic locations, with nine current drivers calling Monaco home, including Piastri.
He is just 23 and only in his second season of F1 but has already purchased himself a swanky apartment in Monte Carlo where his neighbours include Novak Djokovic, Bono and Ringo Starr.
When Piastri sat down with this masthead for an exclusive sit-down interview we met at his manager Mark Webber’s harbourside suite in the Principality, overlooking parts of the iconic street circuit where Webber twice won the most famous race in motorsport.
Not that Piastri actually spends much time in his new pad on the French Riviera.
The F1 calendar now features 24 rounds, starting late February and finishing early December, so Piastri spends the largest chunk of his year in 5-star hotels or flying around the globe in first-class cabins or on private jets.
“I think last season, we added it up, and it was maybe 100 (nights at home), so just over three months,” he said.
“I get to see a lot of the world.
“And for me, my first season of F1, that was part of the experience, really going to a lot of new places. Mexico, Brazil, some of the Middle Eastern countries, a lot of places in Asia, Japan, Singapore, stuff like that.
“So it’s very cool.”
LIFE IN THE FAST LANE
Born and raised in Melbourne, Piastri automatically becomes one of the centres of attention when the F1 circus rolls into Albert Park each year but his incredible performances with McLaren in the past season and a half have ensured he’s become a magnet for headlines everywhere he drives.
Tipped as a future world champion even before he made his F1 debut, Piastri had been deliberately trying to keep a low profile while he was still trying to establish himself in motor racing’s premier category, but the genie is well and truly out of the bottle.
Sitting fourth in the 2024 drivers’ championship after a golden run through Europe with two wins and six podiums, there’s no doubt Piastri is the real deal so the hype around him is accelerating as fast as his race starts, adding to the demands on his time from media and sponsors on race weekends.
Living his dream, he spends all of Thursday at each circuit, half of it plotting strategies with his race engineers, and the other half fulfilling his increasing marketing commitments.
Those demands continue throughout Friday practice, Saturday qualifying and even after Sunday’s race, but he’s already handling it all like a seasoned pro.
“We don’t just rock up to the track ten minutes before the session and jump in,” he said.
“We’re there usually three hours, four hours before the first session of the day, and we won’t leave the track till probably three or four hours after the last session of the day. So it’s a long time spent there every day.”
If anything, Piastri’s resolute approach to attempting to achieve something incredible should endear him to Aussie sports fans, who have always loved an underdog willing to have a crack on the world stage.
Only two Australians - Jack Brabham (1959, 1960, 1966) and Alan Jones (1980) - have ever won the world drivers’ championship but Piastri has injected fresh hope that there could soon be another name on the honour roll, not that he’s getting ahead of himself.
“I’m about where I expected to be or wanted to be,” he said.
“I wouldn’t really say I’m ahead of where I wanted to be, because I think if you’re ahead of where you wanted to be, unless you’ve won every race, you probably set your targets a bit too low for yourself. So, I’m about where I want to be.”
KEEPING CALM
One of the ironies in a sport where everything happens at high speed, is that one of the keys to success is the ability to stay patient and maintain an even temperament when things go awry.
That’s a trait that Piastri has and is serving him well.
“Calmness is certainly one of my strengths,” Piastri said.
“Some people need a bit of red mist or a bit of aggression or whatever it might be to perform at their best.
“For myself, sometimes I do need a bit of a kick, but I feel like for the majority of situations, being calm and collected is the best way that I work.
“It’s not an easy sport. You spend a lot of time losing and not winning, and you spend a lot of time in difficult situations on track.
“It’s just trying to be accepting of the situation and looking at what you’re going to do next.”
With all the signs pointing to Piastri and his McLaren team mate Lando Norris challenging Verstappen for the drivers’ championships in 2025, the Australian is in a good headspace for the high stakes challenges ahead without losing sight of how far he’s already come.
“I’m just really enjoying, firstly driving in F1, but also now being in a competitive position in F1, it’s a pretty cool place to be,” he said.
“Yes, there’s a lot of hype and I guess expectation. But I also quite like that.
“Normally if you’re not getting spoken about in F1, it’s because there’s nothing really that exciting going on for you.
“So I think the fact that we’re at the front of F1 is a very, very cool place to be. It’s been something to get used to definitely, having people recognise you on the street or the supermarket or wherever it might be is a bit different to how I imagined life about five years ago, but it’s very cool and part of the territory.”
More Coverage
V8 great honoured with creation of Supercars best-and-fairest award
The best and fairest driver on the Supercars grid will be recognised with a new award named in honour of a touring car legend.
‘Lacks killer instinct’: F1 pundit’s brutal Lando Norris assessment
Lando Norris’ lack of experience challenging for a world championship has proved telling against Max Verstappen this year, according to F1 expert Martin Brundle, who has delivered a brutal assessment of the McLaren star.