Oscar Piastri wins third junior championship in three years by clinching F2 title with two races to spare in Abu Dhabi; Piastri, 20, has impressed this year, but unlike several previous champions will not make step up to F1 in following season
Saturday 11 December 2021 18:25, UK
Oscar Piastri has been crowned Formula 2's 2021 champion with two races to spare in Abu Dhabi.
After a string of impressive results, Piastri, 20, went into Saturday's Sprint Race 1 only needing to finish fifth - but he sealed his title with a podium ahead of his title rival and team-mate Robert Shwartzman in fourth.
Jehan Daruvala won the race with Felipe Drugovich second.
By winning the title, Piastri has followed in the footsteps of illustrious company such as George Russell and Charles Leclerc and like those graduates has enjoyed a dominant junior career.
This is Piastri's third championship in three years.
However, while highly rated and a part of an F1 junior academy in Alpine - the Australian will not be on the F1 grid in 2022.
He was considered for the Alfa Romeo seat, the last to be filled, although ultimately overlooked in favour of fellow Alpine junior and current F2 driver Guanyu Zhou.
Alfa Romeo admitted that the financial backing from Zhou, who will be the first Chinese F1 driver, was "a pillar of the decision".
Not permitted to compete in the feeder F2 series again after becoming the champion, Piastri will instead spend 2022 concentrating on being Alpine's official F1 reserve driver, behind Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon.
