Oscar Piastri has dismissed claims that only McLaren will be fighting for titles with both drivers in 2025.
McLaren heads into the first race at Melbourne as the favourites for the title, after Lando Norris posted blistering times in pre-season testing that ‘surprised’ engineers at Mercedes.
The MCL39 is the strongest package out of all the cars, with Norris’ runs in testing showing he was at least 30 seconds clear of Mercedes Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in a simulation of the Bahrain Grand Prix.
McLaren are odds on to win at this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix, with Piastri standing a chance of becoming the first native to win the race since the championship round was first held in 1985.
Many expect the two drivers to be the main title protagonists this year, after George Russell claimed McLaren was simply out of reach in the first half of the season. But Piastri has calmed expectations ahead of the opening round at Melbourne when speaking to Sky Sports.
Oscar Piastri thinks only McLaren fighting for the 2025 championship is ‘far-fetched’
McLaren’s team principal Andrea Stella has admitted that his ‘dream scenario’ would be to have both his drivers fighting for the championship, similar to Mercedes during this glory years with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.
Martin Brundle thinks Max Verstappen will have a huge advantage, as he expects both McLaren drivers to take points off each other in the opening rounds. Piastri has warned that there is still a lot to come from their rivals which will be seen at Melbourne.
“That’s a bit far-fetched, I think it’s going to be a really tight season. We had a good test in Bahrain, you never know what everybody else is hiding, you never know what we’ve got until the weekend,” said Piastri.
“So I expect it to be just as tight as it was at the end of last season but hopefully we can be in the mix from round one.”
Oscar Piastri says it was ‘easy decision’ to extend McLaren contract
Heading into his home race, Piastri signed a new contract with McLaren that takes him up to the 2030 season and features a significant pay rise.
The Australian said the decision was a no brainer given how impressive McLaren’s turnaround has been in the last 18 months.
“For me it was a very easy decision to want to extend with McLaren and I think it was the same from the other side, so very excited to be in papaya for many years to come,” said Piastri.
According to The Daily Mail, McLaren has now matched Piastri’s salary with Norris with him expected to earn performance bonuses including for Grand Prix victories and championship wins.
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