Oscar Piastri has turned into a phenomenon in just his second season in F1. The child prodigy, who claimed the Championship wins in the 2020 Formula 3 and 2021 Formula 2 seasons, was never born into a racing family. While Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen went into racing by following the footsteps of their fathers, that was not the case for Piastri. His father was a car mechanic and he had to pool his life’s savings to fund Oscar’s journey to where he is today. But how did the racing talent become a popular figure in F1 as we know him today?

Much before Oscar Piastri had made his F1 debut, he started racing remote-controlled cars for national championships. As he excelled at that, he graduated into karting in 2011 when he was only 10. Seeing the youngster’s undeniable talent, Oscar’s family sent him to the UK after 5 years so that he could take part in the Karting World Championships. After coming 6th in the contest, it was time for Oscar to make his Formula debut with the 2016 Formula 4 season. At that time, his first and sole sponsor was his father’s company, HP Tuners.

Speaking of Oscar Piastri’s amazing results in F4, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner once said, “There was an opportunity for Red Bull to look at him at the time and we didn’t take up that option, which is something that I regret. What he went on to achieve is phenomenal, in Formula 3 and Formula 2.” Well, Oscar soon moved out of F4 after clinching the second spot in the 2017 round. Then came his F3 title in 2019 when he beat his future fellow Formula 1 racer Logan Sargeant by just 4 points to clinch the Championship.

Being from Australia, Oscar Piastri already has some incredible F1 racers (like Jack Brabham and Mark Webber) from his country to look up to. Fortunately for him, he has gotten one of them as his mentor. Webber recognized Piastri’s talent quite early on and decided to mentor him from his F3 days. But how did Oscar come under the former Red Bull racer’s tutelage?

Mark Webber’s hands-on approach made an “impressive young man” out of Oscar Piastri

Mark Webber’s legacy in Formula 1 stays on as the Aussie raced for Red Bull between 2007 and 2013. However, after retiring from the elite Championship, he found an interest in sports management. In early 2020, he joined his partner Ann Neal as well as sports and corporate CEO Jason Allen to found the JAM management group. And he signed then-18-year-old Oscar Piastri to represent him during his F3 days. With his wide knowledge of the racing world, Webber took on the job of mentoring Piastri both on and off the track while his business partners, Neal and Allen, managed the racer’s commercial rights.

Speaking on his prodigious mentee, Mark Webber once told Auto Action, “Oscar is an impressive young man. He’s got that white line fever when he puts his helmet on and turns into a different character, which is sensational.” Mark Webber played a giant role in helping Piastri secure the McLaren seat when he was still a Renault junior. While the two teams (McLaren and Alpine) fighting over Piastri cooked up a huge controversy at that time, it was all for the better future of the Aussie racer who is now scoring podium wins every other race weekend! But what really happened during the 2023 drivers’ market announcements that made Oscar Piastri shot to fame in the F1 world even before he stepped into it?

Mark Webber helped Oscar Piastri become an on-demand recruit

Oscar Piastri served as the Alpine reserve driver for the 2022 season when Fernando Alonso announced his exit from the team. The Enstone outfit wasted little time before declaring on X that they would promote Piastri to Nando’s seat. However, this started off a war between Alpine, who wanted Oscar Piastri to stay with them, and McLaren, who sacked Daniel Ricciardo to take up Oscar. Making his intentions clear, the mentee of Mark Webber mentioned in his reply to Alpine’s recruitment announcement on X, “Without my agreement, Alpine F1 has put out a press release late this afternoon that I am driving for them next year.”

On July 4, 2022, Piastri and his manager Mark Webber agreed to a contract with McLaren to join them from 2023. This was much to the chagrin of Alpine. So, the French team went to the Contract Recognition Board to hold Piastri accountable for ditching it. However, the verdict went in favor of McLaren and the Aussie youngster as Alpine had to pay a hefty legal cost of $609,498 to the Papaya army.

Well, Piastri is now all settled at McLaren and he has made sure that Zak Brown’s investment in him did not go to waste. In fact, McLaren Boss Andrea Stella had also called him a future World Champion. But did you know that there is a link between Oscar and the 4-time F1 Champion Sebastian Vettel? So, what is it?

Oscar Piastri is the embodiment of Vettel’s ‘fears’

Oscar Piastri won the Hungarian GP 2024 in just his second season as an F1 racer. With this, he has become the first 2000s-born Formula 1 driver to claim a Grand Prix victory. And this brings back memories of Sebastian Vettel’s premonition from the 2019 season. At that time, he was at a press conference with Lewis Hamilton. Then, Lewis had asked Verstappen how old he was and the Dutchman had said, “21.” Being 34 already, Hamilton was taken aback that Max had beaten him as well as Vettel. But the German said, “The day we get beaten by someone born in 2000…”

Vettel’s ‘fears‘ have come true now. Piastri has become the first-ever racer born in the millennium to grab an F1 race win. In this way, he has been linked to the former four-time World Champion. But if Piastri’s boss Andrea Stella is to be believed, this is just the start of Oscar’s conquests. As per Stella, the 23-year-old is “World Championship material“. So, he might even become the first 2000s-born to claim a Championship victory soon.

Thus, Oscar Piastri is the newest breakout star of F1 right now, and he has the blessings of Mark Webber to move forward in his career. Do you think the Aussie can become a phenomenal racer like Hamilton or Vettel in the future? Share below in the comments.