Turns out Piastri won his first grand prix… with a broken rib

If Oscar Piastri’s maiden F1 victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix a few weeks ago wasn’t impressive enough, we now know that he did it with a broken bone. How in the heck?

The 23-year-old took to social media over the weekend to issue a summer break update to his fans, casually slipping in a screenshot of an x-ray… showing a fractured rib.

We don’t know when or how Piastri sustained the injury, but the scan is dated 8 July, which suggests he picked it up at some point during the British Grand Prix weekend last month. Seat belts on too tight, perhaps?

Anyway, with only a fortnight between Silverstone and the following round at the Hungaroring, it looks like the Aussie chose to drive through the pain barrier, and boy did that decision pay off.

He wrestled the lead of the race away from teammate Lando Norris at the first corner and dominated from there, although he was made to sweat for the final few laps as the team begged Lando to hand back the lead (which he’d only got after McLaren pitted him first).

A week later Piastri was on the podium again, finishing P2 behind Lewis Hamilton after George Russell was disqualified for having a car that failed its post-race weight checks.

Oscar’s win is the latest peculiar success that an F1 driver has had lately after succumbing to injury: Carlos Sainz was hospitalised with appendicitis back in March but just 16 days later he stormed to victory in Australia.

And last year, Lance Stroll recovered from a nasty bike accident to score points at the Bahrain Grand Prix, despite both of his wrists still being broken.

F1 drivers are built different, right?