Oscar Piastri has joined an elite motorsport group, but doesn’t reap the rewards of those before him

Oscar Piastri confirmed his Formula 2 World Championship win on Saturday in Jeddah to become the third driver to win successive F3 and F2 titles.

The Aussie’s third place finish in Sprint Race 1 ensured his Prema team mate Robert Schwartzman could not catch him with two races to spare, with Formula One bound Guanyu Zhou out of the running after Piastri’s pole position in qualifying.

The successive Formula 2 & 3 title wins is only something that has been achieved by Charles Leclerc and George Russell in the modern youth category era who are two of the most hotly tipped young drivers in the sport.

Piastri has also managed five pole positions in the last five races which is something only achieved by former Prema man Leclerc in 2017.

Prior to this success, Piastri became the first Australian to win the Formula Renault Eurocup in 2019 which propelled him up the Formula Racing system.

A move to Formula One would be assumed to be a certainty for a youth career of such accolades and pedigree, however Piastri will be nothing more than Alpine reserve driver in 2022.

Only one Formula 2 driver will be making the step up which is Guanyu Zhou who finished third in the standings as he moves to Alfa Romeo alongside Valtteri Bottas for 2022.

Questions have to be asked as to if the junior motorsport system is fair as Zhou’s move looks to be one on financial, not talent based merit.

Piastri will almost certainly be sought after for 2023 but in the meantime questions will be asked as to how the F2 champion finds himself without a seat next year.