Daniel Ricciardo could have another Australian for company on the Formula One grid in 2022, with Oscar Piastri confirming a race debut as soon as next season is the goal, following a strong start to his F2 campaign.
Piastri is fourth in the standings heading into this weekend's second round at Monaco, having won one of the three races on his debut weekend in Bahrain in March.
The Australian was also challenging for the win in race three when he was involved in a crash with English driver Dan Ticktum, in a clear sign the 20-year-old from Melbourne has the pace to challenge for the F2 title.
Having won the Formula Renault Eurocup championship in 2019, followed by the F3 title last year, Piastri says an F2 win in 2021 would leave him in the box seat to step up to F1.
"If I do have a very good year this year, if I won the title this year, that would be three championships in a row, and I'd like to think I'd be in a very strong position to get an F1 seat next year," he told Wide World of Sports.
"I don't know what more I could do than win three titles in three years, and if I won in F2 there's not really anywhere to go other than F1.
"But it's about performing well this year, and then we can worry about F1 next year if it happens."
Piastri is a member of the Alpine Academy, along with fellow F2 drivers Guanyu Zhou and Christian Lundgaard, and has already tested a 2018 Formula One car.
Alpine currently has Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon in their F1 team, and one of the biggest hurdles facing Piastri is the lack of a customer team where Alpine can place its junior drivers, unlike Red Bull (AlphaTauri), Mercedes (Williams) and Ferrari (Haas).
Alonso is signed with Alpine until the end of 2022, meaning Ocon's seat is the logical target for Piastri, with the Frenchman off-contract at the end of this season.
"When you fight at the front in F2 it brings F1 into the picture," Piastri said.
"So I'm focused on F2 right now, and if there's talk about F1 later in the season then I'll worry about it then.
"I'd like to get to F1 as soon as I can, and if that's next year that's great, but ultimately that's going to be dictated by results."
Piastri's manager, former grand prix winner Mark Webber, told Wide World of Sports earlier this year that Alpine has the Australian on the radar for a race seat sooner rather than later.
But Piastri says he won't be satisfied by simply reaching F1.
"It's definitely not the goal to get there, have a year or two and then disappear," he explained.
"It's all about getting there, staying there, and winning.
"Hopefully I can win in F2 and then worry about F1 goals once we get there."
The Australian's strong start to the season – he also set the second fastest time on the final day of a recent test in Barcelona – means he's full of confidence heading to Monaco this weekend, a track where he performed well in 2019.
It's also resulted in a slight shift in focus for the rest of the season.
"Before the season the goal was about trying to get a couple of race wins and pole positions, and I guess I thought the championship would be tough," he said.
"But now, we've already got a race win under our belt, we're fourth in the championship, and after a strong test in Barcelona I'm definitely more confident than I was before the first round.
"I've got to keep my expectations in check, the championship is still going to be tough, but I think it's certainly not unrealistic to challenge for the title."
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