For a man who avoids noise and crowds like a dog avoids Woolmix, The Boss has been paying uncommon attention to the Formula One Grand Prix competition, where noise and crowds go with the territory.

But here he is keeping a beady eye on every race this season.

And it’s all because of Oscar, whom The Boss considers “one of ours”. And he is, sort of — his grandparents are here and Oscar returns to visit when he can. The Piastri and MacFadyen names have been a part of Shepparton life for as long as The Boss can remember.

The young Australian driver, now in his third season with the British-based racing team McLaren, has matured rapidly from a talented rookie into a leading contender for the world championship — at just 24 years of age.

Oscar’s trajectory has been astonishing — but it hasn’t been easy. He’s been working his way up since he was 14, starting with karts and competing hard. After capturing the 2021 Formula Two championship and enduring a difficult contract saga with Alpine, he happily landed at McLaren’s F1 team.

His 2023 season was a series of mistakes and quick learnings; in 2024, his raw speed, race craft and cool head saw him secure multiple podium wins and two Grand Prix race wins, quickly proving he belonged among F1’s elite.

In a remarkable 2025 season, he has added seven race wins, besting the likes of Jack Brabham and Alan Jones for wins in a season. And he heads the drivers’ championship table.

But with six races (out of 24) left to go, can he win? He has formidable rivals with much more experience, including celebrated Dutch driver Max Verstappen, who has won four drivers’ championships driving for Red Bull, and his McLaren teammate and nearest challenger, Lando Norris. Norris was runner-up to Verstappen last year — and has won nine races over seven seasons, compared to Oscar’s nine wins in two years.

Winning a drivers’ championship requires everything to align: a competitive car maintained throughout the season, minimal reliability issues, strong team strategy, favourable safety car timing, and the driver performing flawlessly. The McLaren cars are out-classing the competition this year — as they did in 2024 — but Verstappen in particular is gaining ground on Oscar and Norris.

Oscar’s last win was the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August, when he won his maiden Grand Chelem — the grand slam in Grand Prix racing, where a driver qualifies on pole, sets the fastest lap, wins and leads every lap of the race.

The past three races have got The Boss worried. In Italy, Oscar was controversially ordered to cede second place to Norris; in Azerbaijan he experienced his first F1 crash out, which was bad luck; and in Singapore last week, Norris bumped Oscar and Verstappen while executing a sneaky overtake. Bumping teammates is against the rules, but Norris got away with it.

The Boss reckons there have now been four incidents where the McLaren team has favoured Norris over Oscar, seemingly wanting their fellow Brit to win the drivers’ championship. Oscar is playing by the rules, but Norris isn’t, and they’re letting him get away with it. It was “unfair”, Oscar told his race engineer over the radio.

Oscar still holds a 22-point lead over Norris (a driver receives 25 for a race win) but will need all of his steely nerve to maintain his composure in the face of these unsettling provocations, so he can perform at his best. The cards looked stacked against him, with plenty of cunning and seasoned drivers and officials thinking he should “wait his turn”. We hope he doesn’t. Go Oscar. Woof!

Corowa Free Press Google News Panels

Wednesday, 22nd September 2027

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