What’s next? Oscar Piastri’s record-breaking F2 season in review

Oscar Piastri is one of the brightest racing talents in the world, winning back-to-back-to-back Renault F4-F3 and F2 Championships in three respective seasons.

An entry into Formula 1 should have come to fruition, but there is no seat available for the Australian heading into 2022.

Rewarded for his incredible past seasons with an Alpine reserve driver’s seat into 2022, Piastri looks unlikely to gain a seat for the upcoming F1 grid.

Piastri sealed the F2 Championship two races before the season’s conclusion in Abu Dhabi, with a qualification in pole for the main race and a 10th place start for the reverse-grid sprint race. The Australian concluded his drive finishing third and claiming the title that he very well deserved.

The 20-year-old started the season strong, placing fifth in his opening round followed by a win at Bahrain. Piastri’s final race result at Bahrain saw him unable to finish in Sakhir Circuit.

Back-to-back race second place finishes in Monaco followed by a second place finish in Baku saw the Australian with a strong grip on the F2 Championship. Piastri concluded the second half of the season extremely strong.

He had seven consecutive top 10 finishes, including four top five finishes with a race win at Monza, right before Daniel Ricciardo claimed victory on the same weekend at Monza.

Piastri then had an excellent weekend at Silverstone, a fourth placed finish and a podium along with another fourth furthering his claim to the championship.

A pole position and a sprint race win at Sochi saw Piastri in front of championship-winner Guanyu Zhou by over 36 points.

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Double race wins at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia followed by a third-place finish in Yas Marina Circuit saw Piastri claim the F2 Championship by 60 points over Robert Schwartzman.

Zhou was promoted to Alpha Romeo after Kimi Raikkonen retired from F1 after a lengthy 20 year F1 career which saw him claim one F1 Championship.

A final race win at Yas Marina Circut overshadowed by F1’s dramatic season-ending captured the talents that Piastri as a driver can achieve, Unfortunately for the Australian, his hard work went unrewarded, being unable to secure an F1 seat heading into the 2022 season.

The reserve driver’s seat will see him gain F1 experience in winter testing and practice seasons across the calendar, though Piastri expressed his frustration in not being able to gain an F1 spot.

“I’d be pretty annoyed if I wasn’t on the grid in 2023,” he said.

“I will prove to Alpine why I should be on the starting grid and hopefully it will lead to a seat in 2023.”

Current Alpine F1 driver and former back-to-back F1 World Champion 36-year-old Fernando Alonso sees his contract expire at the end of the 2022 season and Ocon is contracted with the French outfit until 2024.

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