Lando Norris may have declared 2025 to be his year, but Jack Plooij reckons Oscar Piastri will have something to say about that and started the conversation in Abu Dhabi.

The 2024 Formula 1 season saw McLaren emerge as title contenders, the Woking team claiming the teams’ trophy with Norris and Piastri while the Briton was second in the Drivers’ Championship.

‘Piastri obviously disagrees with that’

Despite a slow start to the campaign with McLaren 50 seconds down on race winner Max Verstappen at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, the team pulled themselves into contention with their in-season upgrades.

Claiming six wins in 24 races, McLaren won the Constructors’ Championship for the first time since 1998 with Norris grabbing a career-best P2 in the standings with Piastri fourth.

The Briton, who won the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, declared “next year is my year”.

He added: “We want to win the Drivers’ next year. I made my mistakes this year, but I’ve learned a lot, and I’ve learned a lot from Max and my competitors around me. As much as I’m happy now, I’m excited to get next year going.”

Norris though will face stiff competition for the Drivers’ title next season, and not just from Verstappen.

F1 2024: Team-mate head-to-head stats

👉F1 2024: Head-to-head qualifying record between team-mates

👉F1 2024: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

Ziggo Sport pundit Plooij reckons the McLaren driver’s team-mate Piastri laid down his marker in Abu Dhabi when he refused to kowtow to Verstappen on the opening lap at the Yas Marina circuit.

In season in which Fernando Alonso and George Russell have questioned Norris’ tactics against Verstappen, the Aston Martin driver saying they haven’t “managed to intimidate him” while Russell said he’d give the Red Bull driver a “proper fight” next year, Piastri held his ground in Abu Dhabi.

Starting second on the grid with Verstappen P4, the Dutchman tried to pass the McLaren driver up the inside in Turn 1 only to find Piastri had closed the door. Verstappen clipped the Aussie and pitched them both into a spin.

But while Piastri lost the most in that incident as he fell to the back of the field, Plooij believes it bodes well for his 2025 title quest.

“I thought it was a good move by Piastri, because he could have gone straight ahead and then shouted that Max was pushing him off the track. Piastri kept steering in, and thought ‘bring it on’,” said the Dutch pundit.

“After the race, Norris said that he is going for the championship next season ‘it will be my year’. Piastri obviously disagrees with that.”

Piastri wasn’t able to fight back in Abu Dhabi, undone by a penalty of his own for clipping the back of Franco Colapinto. He, however, still managed to finish inside the points despite his two-fold drama. Norris won the Grand Prix to claim second place in the Drivers’ Championship.

Read next: Ranked: The six part-time drivers of the F1 2024 season