Oscar Piastri preparing for ‘home race’ at Chinese Grand Prix as new info comes to light
Oscar Piastri will feel at home this weekend as Grand Prix racing returns to the Shanghai International Circuit for the first time in over four years.
Oscar Piastri has joked that the upcoming Chinese Grand Prix will be a ‘home race’ for him, given his ancestral connections to China. The McLaren driver took to social media to reveal that his ‘great great grandfather’ hailed from the country.
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Piastri has enjoyed a strong start to his sophomore year as an F1 driver, recording two P8 finishes and two P4 finishes to leave him sixth in the Drivers’ Championship standings after four races, just five points worse off than highly-rated McLaren team-mate Lando Norris.
The 23-year-old added further importance to this weekend’s race on Tuesday, taking to the X social media platform to explain: “My great great grandfather was Chinese so I think that makes this my 1/16 home race?”
Piastri isn’t the only driver gearing up for a ‘home race’ this weekend. For the first time ever at the Chinese GP, there will be a driver from the home nation on the grid as Zhou Guanyu prepares to dazzle the home crowd. The 24-year-old is relishing the chance to drive at the circuit that he frequented as a child.
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Discussing this weekend’s event, he said: “It’s an opportunity to inspire and pave the path for future generations being interested in the sport: we saw the passion that awaits us when the tickets went on sale, and were fully sold out within hours – my country loves racing and has been waiting for this moment for years.”
While Piastri’s ‘home race’ claim may be a little ambitious, the Australian is likely to get a good reception from the Shanghai crowd given his friendship with the home hero. The McLaren star became acquainted with Zhou during their time together in the Alpine junior programme, and the pair are friends in the paddock.
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“I’d probably say Oscar is one of my best friends in and out. Fernando [Alonso] also is up there,” he told F1.com. “We sometimes have some fun together off-track. Of course, these days, it’s a bit more difficult.
“We used to be hanging out a bit but now we’re at different teams [and] it’s not easy during the season, we have such busy schedules. But these two people are probably the ones I have fun or have good times [with] the most.”
