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After winning his first Formula 1 Grand Prix, Oscar’s celebrations that evening consisted of a heavily delayed flight home, a game of Monopoly with Lando, Alex Albon, and Jack Doohan, a three-hour car journey, and a cheeseburger – their wild night ending when he arrived back at his Monaco apartment around 05:00.

“If you just take the headlines that I got back at 5am, it sounds like I had a great time, but it wasn't particularly exciting – and that’s okay with me,” Oscar says, laughing, as he recalls the night after his first F1 victory, at the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix.

“Our flight was delayed by around three hours, so we were sitting in an airport for a long time,” he continues. “Then, we had to fly into a different airport, which meant a three-hour drive back home, so I got home at 5am, but not because I had done anything fun! We did play Monopoly, so that was exciting. I also went and got some fast food.”

Returning to Budapest just over 12 months on from his milestone maiden win, Oscar will be attempting to repeat the feat, though he’ll be eager for a slightly smoother journey home and an earlier bedtime. Before travelling to the Hungaroring, we sat down with the Australian at the McLaren Technology Centre to look back on his first win and what it meant to him.

Realising a childhood dream

Oscar had shown a lot of promise in his 2023 rookie season, enjoying the strongest first year of any driver in F1 since Lewis Hamilton in 2008, and he built on this in the early stages of 2024. By the time we reached Hungary for Round 13, Oscar had grown to the point where his first win felt like an inevitability to those watching – it was a matter of when, not if.

By this stage of the season, Lando had proven the MCL38’s race-winning capabilities with victory in Miami, while Oscar had two second-place finishes to his name, one in Monaco and one in Austria. But he was still chasing that all-important first Grand Prix victory.

“It was very cool, the first time I stood on top of an F1 podium – it was a really happy moment, but there was also a sense of relief, in some ways, to tick the first win off,” he says, reflecting on how he felt after winning in Hungary. “And there was a sense of pride, because it had taken a lot of hard work and sacrifice to get to that point, so that was really, really special.

“Crossing the line was a special moment, but I think in comparison to how it felt in the days after, it hadn't really sunk in yet. It took quite a lot of time to sink it. The morning after was a pretty cool moment where I woke up and could go: 'I am an F1 winner now'.

“Immediately after the race, it feels kind of surreal, but then you do the interviews, you have the articles written, you see the social posts, and it kind of hits you. It sank in more as time went on.

“The biggest things from that weekend were, firstly, ticking off a dream and a goal of mine – to win a Formula 1 race – but away from that, when you compare it to Hungary in 2023, I was very proud of the improvement I had made, year to year.”

While Oscar made the slow, delayed journey home to Monaco, his trophy was on its way back to the McLaren factory with the team, where it has since taken up its place in our cabinet on the Boulevard alongside our other 198 F1 Grand Prix winning trophies.

As is customary in F1, Oscar had his own replica produced, which was delivered to his flat in the weeks after, where it lives alongside two other keepsakes from that weekend.

“I never used that helmet again, so I have the helmet from that weekend – [in the same condition] as it finished the race - along with the replica trophy,” he explains. “Then there is one other keepsake from Hungary... For those that remember, I was given a €5 note on the Thursday or the Friday of the weekend, which I still have in my apartment. That was a cool moment.”

 

Not just any €5 note…🔮💶 @OscarPiastri #HungarianGP 🇭🇺 pic.twitter.com/lfRAiKoVcB

— McLaren (@McLarenF1) July 22, 2024

The reaction from Australia and beyond

One of five drivers from Australia to win a Grand Prix, Oscar joins a list that includes Jack Brabham, Alan Jones, Mark Webber, and Daniel Ricciardo. Of the 19 to have started an F1 race, he already has the fifth most podiums and the fourth highest number of Poles, just three years into his career.

Many of those closest to him who were watching from Australia would have been awake to see Oscar stand on the top step and to hear their national anthem in the early hours of the morning, though some of his friends from his home country would have been unable to watch and instead would have woken up to the news.

“It is very special to represent Australia in F1, and to have joined the list of winners – it was a proud moment,” Oscar says. “It is always nice hearing the Australian anthem. There are always a few Aussies everywhere we go, and I can very clearly remember a lot of Aussie flags in Budapest, especially underneath the podium, which was very special to see.

“It would have been around 1am in Australia, so the die-hard fans were awake - my family were definitely awake. There was a wave [of messages] when I won, immediately after the race, but also a second wave when everyone woke up and saw the result, so it's nice that I kind of got to live it twice.”

When Oscar began sifting through the hundreds of messages he received from family, friends, colleagues and fellow drivers, one stood out.

“I had quite a lot of people reach out, most were expected, people who had been on the journey or who I’d met on the journey – but the one cooler, more unexpected [message] was from Sebastian Vettel.

“I got a message from him, and he shared his experience of what his first win felt like. That was pretty special because I hadn’t really spoken with or met Seb before that. I got a lot of messages from drivers, which was really nice.”

Returning to Hungary

As Oscar prepares to return to the scene of his first win, more than 12 months on, he says that not a lot has changed, apart from the obvious fact that he’s now leading the Drivers’ Championship. But he heads into the weekend with the same mindset, the same preparation techniques, and the same determination to win.

“I don't think becoming a race winner changed my mentality very much,” he says. “It was a nice confidence boost and, in many ways, reassurance that what I was doing was along the right path. You can take confidence from that. So I don’t think I’ve changed much since then in terms of how I approach race weekends.

“I’m excited to be going back, but once I am there, I’ll be very much focused on how I can win again, just like every other weekend. It will be cool in the lead up to the weekend, but once the track action starts, it will be how we can try and repeat that result.”