Oscar Piastri has enjoyed a tremendous start to his second Formula 1 season. The McLaren driver currently sits fourth in the F1 Drivers’ Championship standings and broke through with his maiden victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix near the end of July.
Which we now know involved the driver overcoming a fractured rib.
Piastri shared a post on social media Sunday morning illustrating some of the highlights of his second F1 season. That post included photographs of podium celebrations in Hungary as well as in Monaco, where he notched his first podium of the season.
They also included an x-ray image indicating “L 6th rib fracture,” and in the caption, Piastri noted that this season has included his first “broken bone,” along with the notation that the rib was “enjoying the break:”
The x-ray is dated July 8, the day after the British Grand Prix. (For those wondering, Piastri was born on April 6, 2001, and the date of birth on that x-ray image is listed as 06-04-2001, in the date-month-year format. The date of the x-ray is listed as 08-07-2024.)
This means that Piastri completed both the Hungarian Grand Prix — where he recorded his first F1 victory — as well as the Belgian Grand Prix, where he finished third and was promoted to second following George Russell’s disqualification while recovering from a rib fracture.
As anyone who has dealt with rib injuries can attest, they are not exactly comfortable. And muscling an F1 car around a track could not have been pleasant for Piastri.
According to reports, Piastri sustained the injury “around the time of the Austrian Grand Prix at the end of June,” and is now fully healed.
Just imagine how he will perform now.
