Piastri Dons Karting number for McLaren

Oscar Piastri will sport the number #88 on his McLaren MCL36 for the 2023 Formula 1 season when he takes the grid at Bahrain on March 5.

Piastri’s rise into a Formula 1 seat started with Karting in 2011, and he’s stuck fast with the digits he was forced to don in the Victorian State titles.

In an interview with ‘In the Fast Lane’, the official podcast of the Australian Grand Prix, the victorian born racer explained the story behind his F1 number.

“Correct, it will be #81, as long as nobody pinches that before we put in my number, but I think that’s pretty safe!” Piastri confirmed on ‘In the Fast Lane’.

“Eighty-one was the number I had in karting. The story of how I got 81 is not particularly interesting but I’ll explain it anyway…

“When I did my first race I had to pick a number for my first race, and the kart shop I went to only had number ones in stock, and it had to be a one or two digit number.

“I obviously couldn’t be number one because yeah, for obvious reasons, so I was actually number 11 for my first couple of races, and then we entered – I think it was the Victorian state titles – and somebody had already entered as number 11.

“I don’t know what inspired me to pick #81 but I changed the first one for a number eight, and it stuck ever since. So, there you go!”

Oscar Piastri steers the 2022 McLaren at the post-season test at the Yas Marina Circuit last week. Photo by Michael Potts / LAT Images

Piastri recently completed his first outing in the 2022 spec F1 McLaren car, where he competed 123 laps around Yas Marina, making up a good bulk of his on track testing time after Alpine released him from his contract early to join up with the Woking stable. Previously, he had completed a behind closed doors test at Paul Ricard in the previous generation McLaren car.

The 676km of testing time made up around 40% of his total on track preparation for next season. Shortly after the test, Piastri explained to AUTO ACTION the importance of getting that session in.

“It’s definitely important because of the cars being the same next year, and everyone’s going to be trying to go quicker and quicker,” he explained.

“But it was my first full day in a 2022 F1 car and there are a few things that are different…bouncing down the straights is certainly something new! But I thought the engine felt good.

“I’m in the factory next week for my official introduction to everyone and I’m looking forward to that and meeting the whole crew, and then it’s working with the engineers and mechanics and doing sim work; those are the big ticket items!”

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