THE BUSINESS OF BEING OSCAR PIASTRI
Formula 1 may be the world’s most glamorous sport, but for Oscar Piastri, it’s also one of the most lucrative. At just 24, Australia’s highest-paid athlete is earning more than US$40 million a year.
3 min
In the high-octane world of international sport, homegrown Formula 1 star Oscar Piastri is big business. After a trailblazing 2025 season, Piastri is on track to be one of our most successful athletes ever. Almost certainly, he’ll be the richest.
The 24-year-old Melbourne-born driver inked a lucrative deal with McLaren reportedly worth US$41 million a year, making him Australia’s highest-paid athlete. Not bad for a Brighton boy who left home at 14.
Driving all the way to the bank
When Piastri lines up on the F1 grid at Melbourne’s Albert Park this year, the world’s eyes will be on him as he attempts to achieve what no other Australian driver has by winning the Australian Grand Prix. Football might have the most fans (an estimated 3.5 billion), but F1 still commands around 430 million devoted followers.
According to F1 owner, US giant Liberty Media, the motorsport generated a whopping US$3.65 billion in 2024. While some of that revenue comes from ticket sales, media rights account for roughly a third of the pie. These include broadcasting deals with television networks that know the adrenaline-charged drama of F1 racing translates into ratings-winning viewing.
Adding to the fascination is the Netflix docuseries “Formula 1: Drive to Survive,” which tracks the lives of drivers, managers, and team owners both on and off the circuit. The big screen joined the party in 2025 with F1: The Movie, starring Brad Pitt as an ageing driver attempting a comeback, which proved a hit with cinemagoers, grossing US$624 million (A$946 million) worldwide.
Much like Grand Slam tennis, which counts Rolex and Emirates among its sponsors, F1 attracts prestigious brands such as Louis Vuitton, Moët & Chandon and TAG Heuer. It’s no surprise F1 drivers can command enviable salaries.
At the end of Piastri’s second season with McLaren, in 2024, the Aussie is reported to have pocketed US$34.5 million, including a base pay of US$7.8 million plus US$26.7 million in bonuses. His current deal with McLaren will see him in the team’s famous papaya orange colours until at least 2028.
Piastri also benefits from team sponsors such as Mastercard, as well as personal deals with companies including Quad Lock, software group Dubber, burger chain Grill’d and his father Chris Piastri’s automotive software company HP Tuners.
Piastri is undoubtedly a champion in a cut-throat sport where split-second decision-making at more than 300 km/h can mean the difference between a chequered flag and crashing out. But it’s his future marketability and brand potential where the young driver could outshine his rivals.
It may not, however, be as simple as saying more wins equal more money, according to Hans Westerbeek, Professor of International Sport Business at Victoria University.
“In modern F1, the financial equation is far more complex,” Westerbeek says. “A driver’s value to a team and to sponsors isn’t just measured by podium finishes. It’s about their ability to generate global attention, connect with fans, and represent the brand values of their team and sponsors.”
In the age of “algorithmic fandom”, Westerbeek says digital engagement through social media matters just as much.
“A spectacular overtake that goes viral on TikTok may deliver more commercial value than a quiet second place,” he argues. “Teams and sponsors now monitor real-time sentiment data on how fans react online to every race weekend, and this affects negotiations and commercial deals.
“So, Oscar’s growth in earning potential depends on a combination of performance and digital visibility.”
When Piastri crashed out in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in September, he was understandably deflated, telling Sky Sports F1 the race was “not my finest moment”. And yet Piastri’s first-lap exit drew most of the headlines, not rival Max Verstappen’s win.
“In many ways, F1 drivers are no longer just athletes; they’re content creators,” Westerbeek says. “An unexpected post-race interview that resonates globally might drive as much sponsor interest as a podium finish.
“The sport’s economics are shifting from pure sporting results to a hybrid model of performance plus digital storytelling.”
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The lunar flyby would be the deepest humans have traveled in space in decades.
4 min
It’s go time for the highest-stakes mission at NASA in more than 50 years.
On April 1, the agency is set to launch four astronauts around the moon, the deepest human spaceflight since the final Apollo lunar landing in 1972.
The launch window for Artemis II , as the mission is called, opens at 6:24 p.m. ET.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration teams have been preparing the vehicles to depart from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on the planned roughly 10-day trip. Crew members have trained for years for this moment.
Reid Wiseman, the NASA astronaut serving as mission commander, said he doesn’t fear taking the voyage. A widower, he does worry at times about what he is putting his daughters through.
“I could have a very comfortable life for them,” Wiseman said in an interview last September.
“But I’m also a human, and I see the spirit in their eyes that is burning in my soul too. And so we’ve just got to never stop going.”
Wiseman’s crewmates on Artemis II are NASA’s Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
What are the goals for Artemis II?
The biggest one: Safely fly the crew on vehicles that have never carried astronauts before.
The towering Space Launch System rocket has the job of lofting a vehicle called Orion into space and on its way to the moon.
Orion is designed to carry the crew around the moon and back. Myriad systems on the ship—life support, communications, navigation—will be tested with the astronauts on board.
SLS and Orion don’t have much flight experience. The vehicles last flew in 2022, when the agency completed its uncrewed Artemis I mission .
How is the mission expected to unfold?
Artemis II will begin when SLS takes off from a launchpad in Florida with Orion stacked on top of it.
The so-called upper stage of SLS will later separate from the main part of the rocket with Orion attached, and use its engine to set up the latter vehicle for a push to the moon.
After Orion separates from the upper stage, it will conduct what is called a translunar injection—the engine firing that commits Orion to soaring out to the moon. It will fly to the moon over the course of a few days and travel around its far side.
Orion will face a tough return home after speeding through space. As it hits Earth’s atmosphere, Orion will be flying at 25,000 miles an hour and face temperatures of 5,000 degrees as it slows down. The capsule is designed to land under parachutes in the Pacific Ocean, not far from San Diego.
Is it possible Artemis II will be delayed?
Yes.
For safety reasons, the agency won’t launch if certain tough weather conditions roll through the Cape Canaveral, Fla., area. Delays caused by technical problems are possible, too. NASA has other dates identified for the mission if it doesn’t begin April 1.
Who are the astronauts flying on Artemis II?
The crew will be led by Wiseman, a retired Navy pilot who completed military deployments before joining NASA’s astronaut corps. He traveled to the International Space Station in 2014.
Two other astronauts will represent NASA during the mission: Glover, an experienced Navy pilot, and Koch, who began her career as an electrical engineer for the agency and once spent a year at a research station in the South Pole. Both have traveled to the space station before.
Hansen is a military pilot who joined Canada’s astronaut corps in 2009. He will be making his first trip to space.
Koch’s participation in Artemis II will mark the first time a woman has flown beyond orbits near Earth. Glover and Hansen will be the first African-American and non-American astronauts, respectively, to do the same.
What will the astronauts do during the flight?
The astronauts will evaluate how Orion flies, practice emergency procedures and capture images of the far side of the moon for scientific and exploration purposes (they may become the first humans to see parts of the far side of the lunar surface). Health-tracking projects of the astronauts are designed to inform future missions.
Those efforts will play out in Orion’s crew module, which has about two minivans worth of living area.
On board, the astronauts will spend about 30 minutes a day exercising, using a device that allows them to do dead lifts, rowing and more. Sleep will come in eight-hour stretches in hammocks.
There is a custom-made warmer for meals, with beef brisket and veggie quiche on the menu.
Each astronaut is permitted two flavored beverages a day, including coffee. The crew will hold one hourlong shared meal each day.
The Universal Waste Management System—that’s the toilet—uses air flow to pull fluid and solid waste away into containers.
What happens after Artemis II?
Assuming it goes well, NASA will march on to Artemis III, scheduled for next year. During that operation, NASA plans to launch Orion with crew members on board and have the ship practice docking with lunar-lander vehicles that Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin have been developing. The rendezvous operations will occur relatively close to Earth.
NASA hopes that its contractors and the agency itself are ready to attempt one or more lunar landing missions in 2028. Many current and former spaceflight officials are skeptical that timeline is feasible.
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