The next generation of Australian racers looking to take the step up into Formula One have again put the motorsport world on notice with a pair of impressive victories.

Melbourne’s Oscar Piastri, and Jack Doohan – the son of five-time world champion 500cc motorcycle racer Mick Doohan – claimed key victories in the F2 and F3 categories at Sochi in Russia on the same weekend F1 superstar Lewis Hamilton won his 100th race in the world’s premier category.

Piastri’s feature race win put him a step closer to clinching the F2 world title. Starting on pole for the third straight race, Piastri proved too strong for fellow title aspirants, China’s Guanyu Zhou and Russian Robert Shwartzman, and now sits 36 points clear of Zhou in the battle for the title.

There are two rounds left in the season – at Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and Yas Island in the United Arab Emirates – and Alpine Academy racer Piastri is the red-hot favourite for the title.

Piastri, who is still only 20, is managed by fellow Australian, nine-time Formula One race winner Mark Webber and is on course to win his third world title in as many seasons and join current Ferrari and Williams F1 racers Charles Leclerc and George Russell as the only other drivers to claim the F3 and F2 crowns in consecutive seasons.

But he remains at long odds to join the Formula One grid for 2022, with the driver puzzle nearly resolved.

Under rule 26.1 of the F2 sporting regulations, “no winner of a FIA Formula 2 Championship may participate in the two successive Championships”, meaning Piastri could be left without a drive next season should he clinch this year’s title as expected.

On the weekend he told motorsport.com he would be prepared to spend next year as an Alpine F1 reserve driver, but would have “serious discussions” beyond that.