Create Shopify product with Variant SKU using API - shopify

Question

I am trying to create Products on Shopify using the API,
In the CSV upload there is a field Variant SKU which sets the (default) product SKU, I can't seem to find the correct way to create a product along with this value?
I tried (python3);
import requests
import json
from config import SHOPIFY_URL
payload = {
'product': {
'title': 'Hello Product',
'variants': {
'option1': 'Primary',
'sku': 'hello-product'
}
}
}
requests.post(
f'{SHOPIFY_URL}/products.json',
headers = {'content-type': 'application/json'},
data=json.dumps(payload)
)
The product get created but the SKU doesn't.
The TL;DR of my question;
What to I need to pass to fill the Product CSV Upload file's field Variant SKU?
Update
Thanks to David Lazar's comments, I realized that I need to use a list of variants.
payload = {
'product': {
'title': 'Hello Product',
'variants': [
{
'option1': 'Primary',
'sku': 'hello-product'
}
]
}
}
This however creates the product with one variant using the passed SKU.However what I am looking is to create the Porduct with its own SKU, no variations for the product, just a SKU for the product.