- McLaren star will continue promising season in Shanghai
- The Formula One star is currently sixth in the drivers’ standings.
Australian F1 star Oscar Piastri has revealed his Chinese heritage ahead of the upcoming Chinese Grand Prix, joking that the event will be a “home race” for him.
The 23-year-old McLaren driver, who is sixth in the drivers’ championship, has had a good start to the F1 season, achieving two P4 and two P8 finishes.
As he prepares for this weekend’s race at the Shanghai International Circuit, Piastri revealed that he has an ancestral link to China, as his great-great-grandfather comes from that country.
“My great-great-grandfather was Chinese, so I think that makes this my 1/16th race at home.” Piastri published in X.
F1 star Oscar Piastri (pictured) revealed his great-great-grandfather was Chinese
The Australian driver is also known to have Italian and Yugoslavian ancestry.
Piastri was born in Melbourne on April 6, 2001 to parents Chris and Nicole.
Father Chris owns a successful automotive software development company and it was clear from the beginning that Piastri was obsessed with all things automotive.
That’s because of his choice of bedtime stories, which were mainly car books. The young enthusiast could even recite the horsepower, speed and other statistics of his favorite models.
But they say every journey begins with a single step, and in Piastri’s case in F1, it was a purchase his father made abroad.
‘We bought remote control cars when I was on a business trip in the United States and Oscar liked it incredibly. “He started competing with them and got third place in his first event against 20- and 30-year-olds when he was only six,” Chris told the Sydney Morning Herald in 2021.
He continued racing remotely controlled cars at the national level, winning the second level of competition at just nine years old, before it was time to graduate to big-kid karts.
Piastri began racing at just nine years old at Oakleigh Go-Kart Racing Club, which is located in the south-east of Melbourne; and it was immediately evident that it was going to be something special.
Piastri, who was born in Melbourne, also has Italian and Yugoslavian heritage.
Oscar Piastri began his career as a kart driver at just 9 years old at the Oakleigh club in Melbourne in 2011.
Oscar Piastri came third in an international karting competition at the iconic Le Mans when he was only 15 years old.
The young prodigy believed he was instantly set up for success thanks to his experience in remote-controlled cars.
“Having raced remote control cars, I had a rough idea of the racing lines and how the basic principles of driving worked,” Piastri told the Australian Associated Press.
Despite his great start to the F1 season, it has been his teammate Lando Norris who has been leading the charge, achieving McLaren’s best result of the year.
Piastri struggled to eighth place in Japan recently and hopes to improve in Shanghai as the race returns to China for the first time in five years.