Oscar Piastri wins top award for ‘formidable’ F1 season

McLaren F1 star Oscar Piastri has been crowned the winner of Australia’s most prestigious sporting award.

Piastri might just miss out on an F1 title at the end of this season, with his team-mate and main rival Lando Norris 24 points clear heading into the final three races.

Without a win to his name since the Dutch Grand Prix back in August, it is fair to say the wheels have somewhat come off for Piastri.

So the young Australian would have been delighted when he found out that he had won ‘The Don Award’ at the Sport Australia Hall of Fame Induction and Awards Gala Dinner in Melbourne on Monday.

Introduced in 1998 - named after Aussie cricket legend Sir Donald Bradman - the award recognises an Australian athlete or team whose ‘achievements and example over the past 12 months have most inspired the nation’.”

“Winning an award in the name of Sir Donald Bradman is a massive privilege,” Piastri said.

“Everyone in Australia knows exactly what he represented and the legacy he has in Australian sport, so it’s not lost on me how major this award is. It’s always an amazing feeling to represent our country on the world stage and do well for ourselves.

“Thank you to everyone that waves the flag and cheers me on at all the grand prix races around the world. To be a recipient of The Don Award is a great honour, and I look forward to representing our country for many years to come.”

Piastri’s parents accepted the award on his behalf, with Oscar’s mum, Nicole, saying: “As a mum you can’t ask for more than that, accept for your son to maybe ring you a bit more often.”

“It’s quite surreal,” she added when speaking to Australian outlet 10 News. “He’s just our son, our brother, our boy. So to put him in that company [of Australian greats] is a little difficult [to come to terms with] at the moment.”

Piastri wins big despite F1 struggles

To win The Don Award at just 24 demonstrates the remarkable season Piastri has had.

As Sport Australia’s Hall of Fame social media account put it, Piastri has ‘become one of the most formidable drivers in world motorsport across the 2025 season’ - and they are not wrong.

He might well fall short to Norris after a miserable run of form at just the wrong time, but there is no denying that Piastri has announced himself as a force to be reckoned with in years to come.

Piastri just needs to find a bit more of that famous Aussie grit, something his manager Mark Webber can no doubt help with, and it won’t be long before he’s fighting for a title again if it does just slip away from him in 2025.

For now, all eyes will be on Vegas as any more points given up to Norris in Nevada will all but (mathematically) hand his team-mate the trophy.

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