In just his third year of competing in cars on the European circuit, Oscar Piastri is ticking a lot of boxes when it comes to becoming Australia’s next Formula 1 driver.

After starting out in karting in Oakleigh nine years ago, the Victorian progressed nicely over the next few years, having a breakout year in 2014, which included outright podiums in state, national and international events.

Despite having such a successful season, it wasn’t until 2016 that he made the big journey overseas to Europe, completing a full season on the European karting scene.

Following on from his positive first year abroad, Piastri’s next move saw him target a British Formula 4 season where he flourished and ended the year second outright As he continued to claim solid results, the teenager then secured a two-year contract in the Formula Renault Eurocup.

His first year in 2018 saw him place eighth outright, one place ahead of fellow Australian Alex Peroni. In 2019, Piastri is currently comfortably coming third in the category and is enjoying just his third year of racing in the big leagues.

“It’s been reasonably big steps in the past few years. I wouldn’t say any bigger than how the Europeans would do it but it seems we’ve had quite a smooth pathway,” Piastri said.

“I am not too surprised that we are in the running this year. Last year our sights were set around a top-five finish, which was being slightly optimistic, but not impossible.

“This year with the new car, we didn’t fully know how well it was going to go, but the aim was to definitely go for the Championship so I am where I expected to be.

“The start of the season has been pretty good. While Monza wasn’t amazing and the pace was there in Monaco but a yellow flag in qualifying made life difficult, the Silverstone double win certainly kicked start the season.”

It was a horrid start to the season for Piastri, as he picked up an 18th in the first race. However a second race turnaround saw him place fourth and back in the top half.

The 18-year-old’s big moment then came in the second round, when he continued that form and dominated the UK round to claim a clean sweep with pole and two victories, sending him to the top of the standings.

“The whole weekend in general was brilliant, in the six practice and test sessions before the round, I was quickest in four of them and second quickest in the other two.

“As for the races, I faced some adversity in the first one and had to reclaim my lead, whereas the second one I led from start to finish and I was really happy.

“Those sort of weekends don’t come around very often and I hadn’t had a win in quite a while, in fact my last had been in 2017 at the same track.

“The round victory was quite a relief and getting those results under my belt certainly boosted my confidence for the rest of the year.”

Unfortunately, Piastri was unable to repeat his Silverstone efforts in Monaco the following round and despite falling just five points behind the current series leader, the down-to-earth driver still remains on track in his plan to race in Formula 1.

“Next year, the most logical step is the FIA Formula 3 series, but at the moment we really have to take it on a year by year basis and see how the results are going,” Piastri added.

“Because obviously as soon as the results drop off, the chances of getting to F1 start to wane - they are slim anyway as it is.

“I am going to try and live out the F1 dream for as long as I can but definitely aware it's unlikely even at the best of times, I pretty much have to get up the single seater tree as far as I can and see what happens then.

“I think I’m heading in the right direction, fighting for Championships and all and with budget permitting, I might as well try and get to F1.

“I just have to continue sticking to the plan, keep the wins coming through the door and everything should sort itself out.”