{"id":114918,"date":"2025-09-02T19:17:21","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T19:17:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/114918\/"},"modified":"2025-09-02T19:17:21","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T19:17:21","slug":"oscar-piastri-ends-mclarens-27-year-wait-for-an-f1-grand-slam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/114918\/","title":{"rendered":"Oscar Piastri ends McLaren\u2019s 27-year wait for an F1 grand slam"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Sunday\u2019s Dutch Grand Prix, Oscar Piastri<\/a> achieved a feat that only 26 Formula 1 drivers previously accomplished.<\/p>\n

The McLaren<\/a> driver took pole position with just a 0.012s gap to team-mate Lando Norris<\/a>, then led the whole race despite three safety car interventions jeopardising his lead.<\/p>\n

Piastri withstood Norris\u2019 and Max Verstappen<\/a>\u2019s pressure to take the win; he even set the fastest lap despite completing his last stint on hard tyres, unlike most drivers on soft rubber. Pole, victory, fastest lap, and the whole race in the lead \u2013 that\u2019s a grand slam.<\/p>\n

This wasn\u2019t the first one by a McLaren driver, but there have been relatively few for the Woking-based outfit. This was just a sixth occurrence for the team; in comparison, Ferrari<\/a> recorded 17 grands slams, Red Bull is on nine, while Mercedes<\/a> and Lotus have eight \u2013 solely thanks to record holder Jim Clark\u2019s contribution, as far as Colin Chapman\u2019s outfit is concerned.<\/p>\n

Other current drivers that have achieved a grand slam include Lewis Hamilton<\/a> (six), Max Verstappen (five), Fernando Alonso<\/a> (one) and Charles Leclerc<\/a> (one).<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s look at McLaren\u2019s previous five grand slams, all of them courtesy of Ayrton Senna and Mika Hakkinen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

1989 Spanish GP \u2013 Senna keeps title race open
\n \"Ayrton <\/p>\n

Ayrton Senna, McLaren MP4\/5<\/p>\n

Photo by: Sutton Images<\/p>\n

Senna knew he needed to win at Jerez if he was to keep his title chances alive; his deficit to team-mate Alain Prost<\/a> was 24 points. Although Prost was handicapped by the rule according to which only the best 11 results of 16 grands prix counted towards the championship, for Senna to catch up with nine-point wins was a tall order.<\/p>\n

The Brazilian did everything he needed to at the southern Spanish circuit. He was fastest in qualifying, with Ferrari\u2019s Gerhard Berger<\/a> 0.274s adrift. Berger did keep up with Senna in the first 20 laps of the race, but had to manage an oil leak and was 27 seconds behind under the chequered flag.<\/p>\n

Senna was famously disqualified from the next race at Suzuka after colliding with Prost, officially for cutting the chicane after the collision, which meant the Frenchman won his third world title.<\/p>\n

1990 Monaco GP \u2013 Senna prevails on his turf
\n \"Ayrton <\/p>\n

Ayrton Senna, McLaren MP4\/5B Honda<\/p>\n

Photo by: Motorsport Images<\/p>\n

When F1 went to Monaco for the fourth round of the 1990 season, the championship was wide open between McLaren and Ferrari \u2013 Prost had switched to the Scuderia after his relationship with McLaren and Senna got strained. Senna was leading the championship on 13 points, with his new team-mate Berger and Prost on 12, while Williams<\/a>\u2019 Riccardo Patrese had nine points to his name.<\/p>\n

Senna was already renowned as a Monaco specialist thanks to past prowess in the Principality, and got his fourth pole position at the track, outpacing Prost by 0.482s.<\/p>\n

On lap 1, Tyrrell\u2019s Jean Alesi<\/a> overtook Prost on the outside of Mirabeau, with Berger missing his braking point and careening into the Ferrari. The race was stopped due to the track being blocked.<\/p>\n

After the second start, Senna quickly pulled away from his rivals \u2013 with main challenger Prost retiring 30 laps in due to a battery failure \u2013 and created a 26-second gap before dramatically slowing down in the last 18 laps to preserve his Honda engine. He led Alesi by one second at the chequered flag, with his fastest time half a second quicker than Nigel Mansell\u2019s.<\/p>\n

1990 Italian GP \u2013 Senna triumphs on\u2026 Ferrari\u2019s turf
\n \"Ayrton <\/p>\n

Ayrton Senna, McLaren MP4-5B Honda.<\/p>\n

Photo by: Rainer W. Schlegelmilch \/ Motorsport Images<\/p>\n

By the time F1 headed to Monza in 1990, the title battle clearly was a two-horse race with Senna leading Prost by 13 points. The tifosi hadn\u2019t had many home wins to enjoy in previous years but had cause to be bullish this time; however Prost lagged 0.402s behind Senna in qualifying, saving a front-row start by 0.001s from the other McLaren, driven by Berger.<\/p>\n

In a race that was remembered for Derek Warwick\u2019s spectacular airborne crash with Lotus, Senna comfortably saw off his main threats \u2013 Berger, Alesi and Prost. Prost did trade fastest laps with Senna, but the Brazilian\u2019s last marker went unbeaten \u2013 by a tenth of a second.<\/p>\n

1998 Brazilian GP \u2013 Hakkinen\u2019s perfect start to the season
\n \"Mika <\/p>\n

Mika Hakkinen, McLaren, David Coulthard, McLaren, Michael Schumacher, Ferrari<\/p>\n

Photo by: Motorsport Images<\/p>\n

Hakkinen was on a roll. The Finn had taken an elusive maiden F1 victory in the season-closing 1997 European Grand Prix, then won the Australian GP from pole. The Melbourne round would have been a grand slam but for a superfluous trip through the pitlane that ceded the lead to his team-mate; at least\u00a0David Coulthard<\/a> kindly let him back through.<\/p>\n

Coulthard had been very close in qualifying at Albert Park, but in the next round at Sao Paulo, Hakkinen took pole emphatically with a 1m17.092s lap that was 0.665s faster than his team-mate\u2019s; everyone else was at least a second off.<\/p>\n

McLaren overwhelmingly dominated the race, beating third-placed Michael Schumacher<\/a> by a minute. Hakkinen\u2019s advantage over Coulthard was 1.1s under the chequered flag, but don\u2019t get the wrong impression \u2013 the 29-year-old simply slowed down on the last lap. Before that, he was four seconds up the road.<\/p>\n

1998 Monaco GP \u2013 Hakkinen wins attritional race
\n \"Mika <\/p>\n

Mika H\u00e4kkinen, McLaren MP4-13 Mercedes, leads David Coulthard, McLaren MP4-13 Mercedes, Giancarlo Fisichella, Benetton B198 Playlife, and Michael Schumacher, Ferrari F300, into Mirabeau on the opening lap<\/p>\n

Hakkinen shone again on one-lap pace in the Principality, taking his fourth pole position in six rounds, with Coulthard 0.339s off. The McLarens quickly pulled away in the race, with the Scot maintaining pressure on his team-mate as they traded fastest laps.<\/p>\n

Coulthard\u2019s 1m22.955s on lap 17 was immediately followed by his engine giving up the ghost when he exited the tunnel, and Hakkinen only marginally improved on this benchmark over the last 60 laps of the race \u2013 1m22.948s \u2013 though he arguably didn\u2019t have to push anymore. When Coulthard retired, second-placed Giancarlo Fisichella<\/a>, for Benetton, was already 19 seconds away.<\/p>\n

The gap between Hakkinen and Fisichella at the chequered flag was 11.5s. Eddie Irvine<\/a>, in third, was 30 seconds further in arrears, and Arrows\u2019 Mika Salo<\/a> was the only other competitor on the lead lap, with just 11 cars reaching the finish.<\/p>\n

In this article<\/p>\n

Be the first to know and subscribe for real-time news email updates on these topics<\/p>\n

Subscribe to news alerts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In Sunday\u2019s Dutch Grand Prix, Oscar Piastri achieved a feat that only 26 Formula 1 drivers previously accomplished.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":114919,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[54988,49,48,48037,58782,576,590,64620,592,64619,82],"class_list":["post-114918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ayrton-senna","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-dutch-gp","tag-f1-dutch-grand-prix-2025","tag-formula-1","tag-mclaren","tag-mika-hakkinen","tag-oscar-piastri","tag-oscar-piastri-ends-mclarenu2019s-27-year-wait-for-an-f1-grand-slam","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}