McLaren driver Oscar Piastri confesses his ‘desperation’ to achieve F1 feat for the first time, ‘a nice relief’

Oscar Piastri has confirmed he will not change the McLaren driver’s approach after overcoming his ‘desperation’ to achieve a Formula 1 feat for the first time in China.

The 23-year-old relished a strong bounce-back performance in Shanghai last time out after his heartbreak at home in Melbourne back in round one. Piastri spun out of second place in the Australian Grand Prix but picked up his first win of the 2025 season at the Chinese GP.

Piastri now sits fourth in the F1 drivers’ championship ahead of this weekend’s Japanese GP, holding 34 points after also finishing the Shanghai Sprint in second place. He trails McLaren teammate Lando Norris by 10 points, with Max Verstappen and George Russell sat between.

Oscar Piastri was getting ‘desperate’ to score his first pole position before the Chinese GP

McLaren were on course to secure a likely one-two finish in the Australian GP before Piastri span in the damp and recovered to finish in P9. The Melbourne native immediately hit back, however, as Piastri took his first pole position in Formula 1 in China and converted it to win.

Piastri now admits that some ‘desperation’ had started to creep into his qualifying approach as the McLaren pilot eyed his first F1 pole. He achieved the feat for the first time at the 48th attempt, despite Norris achieving nine pole positions since they became teammates in 2023.

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Norris further took all nine of those poles during the 16 rounds which preceded the Chinese GP. Piastri achieved a best qualifying position of second place five times in that same period, and will not now adapt his approach after finally scoring his first Formula 1 pole in Shanghai.

“It’s not going to make trying to get pole position for the rest of the year any easier,” Piastri said in the pre-race Thursday press conference. “It just means that maybe there was a bit of desperation beginning to creep in because I’d been trying to achieve that for a long time.

“So, to have the first one is a nice relief, but I want to try to get pole position every weekend. I think it just confirms the approach we have been taking and we should just keep doing the same thing.”

Oscar Piastri scored his first F1 pole position five races earlier than Lando Norris managed

Piastri qualified second on the grid at eight Grands Prix – including the 2025 Australian GP – before the McLaren driver took his first F1 pole position at the 48th try at the 2025 Chinese GP. He will now hope that it does not take three years to score his second like it took Norris.

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Norris scored his first pole position in Formula 1 at the 2021 Russian Grand Prix, which was the Briton’s 53rd F1 entry. The 25-year-old then waited until the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix to score another pole once McLaren had emerged as a title threat for the first time his career.

Now, McLaren also have the clear best car on the grid to leave Norris and Piastri to fight for the 2025 F1 drivers’ championship. So, it may prove to be very helpful for the Australian to shake the pole position monkey off his back without the ‘desperation’ to achieve that feat.

Momentum may also be growing in the Melbourne native’s half of the McLaren garage, too. Norris’ driving style is harder on the Pirelli tyres than Piastri’s despite the MCL39 being one of the kindest cars on the rubber amongst the 2025 grid, especially amid cooler conditions.