By finishing 2nd behind Max Verstappen in Qatar, Oscar Piastri (Born April 6, 2001) is the first driver not born in the 20th Century to finish in the Top 2 of a Grand Prix since…

The Italian Luigi Fagioli, born in 1898, who won the 1951 French Grand Prix at Reims-Gueux at the age of 53, which was his final Grand Prix start, making him the only Grand Prix winner not born in the 20th Century, and the oldest Grand Prix winner in history – In all, Fagioli started 7 races and finished on the podium 6 times.

Two other facts from that 1951 race – It remains the longest Formula 1 race in history in terms of distance (601.832km/373.961 miles), and 20 laps into the race, Fagioli was ordered by the Alfa Romeo team to swap his Alfa with future 5-time World Champion Juan Manuel Fangio, who was suffering multiple problems with his Alfa, and Fangio ultimately used Fagioli’s car to catch the ailing Ferraris and win the race, with both drivers officially credited with the victory, one of only three races to have this distinction (1956 Argentine Grand Prix & 1957 British Grand Prix).

However, Fagioli, who was one of Alfa’s Three Fs of the pre & post-war era (Farina and Fangio being the others), was so disgusted by the forced swap that he quit Grand Prix racing on the spot, making him one of only two drivers to win their last Grand Prix – The other is 2-time World Champion Jim Clark, who won the 1968 South African Grand Prix during the New Year, before his fatal F2 crash at Hockenheim 3 months later.

Sadly, the next year Fagioli crashed while practicing for the Monaco Grand Prix (which was being run for sports cars) and died from his injuries 3 weeks later.

Finally, the only other driver not born in the 20th Century to finish on a World Championship podium is the Monegasque hero Louis Chiron (born 1899), who finished 3rd at his home Grand Prix in 1950 (His only official World Championship podium), who could also forever hold the record as both the oldest driver to start (56YO, 1955 Monaco Grand Prix) and enter (58YO, 1958 Monaco Grand Prix) a Grand Prix event.

However, while Piastri now has a Sprint victory, that historic first Grand Prix win for a 21st Century driver is still up for grabs…