Oscar Piastri has regained the championship lead in the Formula Three championship after he traversed a chaotic race weekend.
Piastri — who has strong family ties to Shepparton — enjoyed the highs and lows of motor racing in round eight of the championship.
In his two races at Autodromo Nazionale Monza in Italy, Piastri finished third in the opener on Saturday, followed by a retirement in race two on Sunday.
The Prema racing driver started 15th on the grid and worked his way brilliantly to third in race one and snatched the lead off his teammate Logan Sargeant — who finished 26th following a spin out.
Following race one, Piastri spoke to fiaformula3.com about the exhilarating experience.
“It was definitely a lot of fun,” Piastri said.
“Obviously, qualifying 12th yesterday and then getting a three-place penalty which I felt like I didn't deserve — I wasn't super happy coming into today.
“This result definitely changes those emotions. From 15th on the grid, I don't think I really could have done much more than that.”
Piastri also touched on the championship tussle with his main rival.
The 19-year-old said he kept an eye on the standings throughout the first race.
“I think, when I was starting 15th and Logan was fifth, it's quite hard to not look at that, but after a few laps I could see that I was only a few cars behind him,” he said.
“I was confident that I could get him . . . the gap is eight points, or something like that, so it's definitely not over at all.
“We saw today how quickly it can change.”
And change it did.
The second race of the weekend left fans bewildered and stunned.
Sitting eight points clear of Sargeant heading into race two, Piastri worked his way to fourth and was destined to extend his grip on the standings.
But a rear clip from Clément Novalak on the first turn forced Piastri to spin 180 degrees.
Which left Sargeant, who started the race in 26th, in sixth spot and set to reclaim the championship lead.
However, Sargeant would later come together with fellow teammate Frederik Vesti and the pair ended up retiring from the race — which put Piastri back in top spot.
To rub more salt into the wounds of Piastri, the Australian was handed a five-place grid-drop for race one of round nine, after stewards found he forced an opponent off the track in race two.
Despite all the drama of the weekend, Piastri walked away from Monza on 160 points.
It sets up an enticing end to the season, with the final two races to be contested at Mugello this weekend.