Piastri finished second at the Red Bull Ring behind McLaren teammate Lando Norris, following an intense 70-lap battle between the pair.
The 24-year-old was particularly close in the early stages of the race, making several attempts to pass Norris and maintaining a gap of under one second to stay within DRS range.
However, after attempting the overcut during the first round of pit stops, Piastri dropped to five seconds behind his teammate before gradually closing the gap again as they approached the second stops.
Following his final stop, Piastri emerged behind the battling pair of Franco Colapinto and Yuki Tsunoda, catching them as he tried to lap both drivers into Turn 3.
As he exited the corner on Lap 55 and moved to pass Colapinto, the Argentine veered to the right in an attempt to overtake Tsunoda — unaware of Piastri’s position — forcing the McLaren onto the grass in a hair-raising moment for the Melbourne-born driver.
Piastri was quick to vent his frustration over the radio: “Alpine still manages to find a way to f*** me over all these years later.”
“alpine still find a way to fuck me up all these years later huh” OSCAR 💀 pic.twitter.com/YTPKfiNvM6
— jay (@landoscrs) June 29, 2025
Colapinto was handed a five-second penalty for the incident and later admitted he hadn’t seen Piastri, explaining that the McLaren was in his “blind spot” as he moved across.
“I just didn’t see him,” said Colapinto.
“He was in my blind spot and I was focused on Tsunoda. I really wanted to get past.”
It was a rare emotional outburst from Piastri, reigniting memories of his infamous and highly publicised split with Alpine back in 2022.
Then a reserve driver for the team, Piastri was announced by Alpine as Fernando Alonso’s replacement for the 2023 season following Alonso’s surprise switch to Aston Martin.
But in a now-iconic social media post, Piastri quickly rejected the announcement, stating: “I understand that, without my agreement, Alpine F1 have put out a press release late this afternoon that I am driving for them next year. This is wrong and I have not signed a contract with Alpine for 2023.”
Look out, Franco!
Oscar Piastri is forced onto the grass by Colapinto 😰#F1 #AustrianGP pic.twitter.com/EhgL70DnuJ
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 29, 2025
It was later revealed that Piastri had signed with McLaren — a move that has paid off handsomely. He has since taken seven Grand Prix wins for the team since 2023 and currently leads the 2025 Drivers’ Championship by 15 points.
Despite the mid-race drama with Colapinto, Piastri was in good spirits post-race, particularly regarding his fight with Norris.
“It was a good battle. A bit on the edge at times and probably pushed the limits a bit far, but it was a good race,” he said.
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