Oscar Piastri privately made an incredible 2025 F1 claim after last year’s finale in Abu Dhabi, ‘next season will be…’

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri has the opportunity to achieve something that’s never happened before in Formula 1.

The Australian Grand Prix has regained hosting rights for the 2025 F1 season opener having handed that role to Bahrain ever since 2021.

No Australian driver has ever won their home race but Oscar Piastri is in a brilliant position to finally end that hoodoo.

McLaren go into this season as the favourite to retain their constructors’ championship crown.

After pre-season testing in Bahrain, it appears as though McLaren have the quickest car on the grid.

However, it’ll be interesting to see whether the likes of Ferrari or Red Bull were hiding any performance going into the first race of the year.

If McLaren do have an advantage over everybody else, then the battle to watch will be between Piastri and Lando Norris.

Norris came out on top last season and while he never got close to Max Verstappen in the drivers’ championship, he ended up with a significant advantage over his teammate.

The Australian’s performances dipped slightly towards the end of the season, although McLaren’s papaya rules meant that Norris was always going to be prioritised during any race.

Journalist Jennie Gow was in attendance at last year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix when McLaren clinched the title ahead of Ferrari thanks to Norris’ victory.

In an interview with the Business of Winning Podcast, she shared the incredible claim Piastri made to her during the celebrations that bode well for this season.

McLaren star Oscar Piastri declared he’ll be F1 world champion after the 2025 season

Gow was asked about the relationship Piastri has with manager Mark Webber and how that’s shaping his preparations for this season.

It was put to her that he needs to come out fighting against Norris this season and she explained: “He absolutely has to and Mark is the perfect person to be his wingman to say, come on, you’ve got this, you’re not a number two.

“Because let’s face it, a lot of people are already starting to write off Oscar’s chances because this is Lando’s championship. This is Lando’s year. He could be the world champion.

READ MORE: McLaren driver Oscar Piastri’s life outside F1 from height to girlfriend

“Well, come on, if Lando can do it, then Oscar can do it too and Mark needs to reinforce that message every morning, every day, every second to say, Oscar, if you want this, you go out and take it. And that’s what he has to do.

“Just on one footnote, I have to say, I was in Abu Dhabi and I caught up with Oscar Piastri as the gold ticker tape was falling down around us in the pit lane after they’d won the team’s championship.

“And I said to him, how do you feel? Great season. And he just looked at me and said, ‘Next season will be better, I’ll be world champion.’”

Helmut Marko backs Oscar Piastri in McLaren battle with Lando Norris

Piastri has been told he needs to work on his qualifying pace if he stands a chance of beating Norris who secured the joint-most pole positions alongside Verstappen last season.

It has to be taken into account that Piastri is still lacking in experience compared to Norris and his other title rivals, but his suggestion that he’ll be world champion this year shows he’s got a level of inner confidence that perhaps his teammate lacks.

Norris has admitted he’s not thinking about the championship yet which may be a good tactic to remain calm at this stage of the season.

READ MORE: All you need to know about McLaren F1 Team from team principal to engine

However, he’s frequently been accused of being too hard on himself and while privately he may have a lot of self-belief, it occasionally comes across as a lack of confidence when he berates himself for the smallest mistake.

Red Bull chief Helmut Marko thinks Piastri is on par with Norris going into this season and could even beat him on occasion.

Piastri will hope that’s the case in 2025 and if he’s taken a step forward over the winter, then he could suddenly be the man to beat.