PIASTRI CROWNED FIA ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

Aussie rising star Oscar Piastri has received the FIA Rookie of the Year award at the 2021 FIA prize giving ceremony in Paris.

The honour, selected by the FIA Drivers’ Commission, is presented to the most exciting talent in an FIA Championship in a year and was award to Piastri in 2021 following his championship winning season in Formula 2.

Piastri achieved six race wins over the course of the year with Prema Racing, earning an extra five podiums along the way and finishing 60.5 points clear of Robert Shwartzman at the top of the standings.

The 20-year-old has now won three successive titles, triumphing in Formula Renault in 2019 and also taking out Formula 3 in his 2020 rookie season.

Piastri joins the company of several successful Rookie of the Year award recipients, the previous winners list includes 2021 Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen as well as F1 figures Alex Albon and Yuki Tsunoda.

Ferrari F1 driver Charles Leclerc is the only person to have won the award twice, having done so in 2017 and 2018 in Formula 2 and Formula 1, respectively.

Piastri will serve as Alpine’s F1 reserve driver in 2022, as he awaits a berth in the top tier of motorsport.

Several awards were presented at the ceremony including the Formula 1 World Championship, which went to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

Mercedes pair Toto Wolff and Lewis Hamilton were not in attendance, which is a breach of F1’s sporting regulations dictating that the top three finishers in the championship must attend.

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