McLaren driver Oscar Piastri has proven in his first seasons in Formula 1 why he was one of the most highly anticipated talents coming through the junior ranks in recent years.
After winning the 2021 Formula 2 season, Oscar Piastri was lined up to race for Alpine last year.
McLaren wasted no time in poaching the Australian from Alpine’s academy and it’s a decision that’s worked out brilliantly for both parties.
While the French team have finished sixth in both Constructors’ Championships since Piastri’s F1 debut, the 23-year-old already has some silverware to his name.
Piastri won a Sprint Race in Qatar during his debut season and is now a two-time race winner after securing victories in Hungary and Azerbaijan.
During the off-season, Piastri has returned to Australia and speaking to SevenPlus during Australia’s Test match against India, was asked about the most recent F1 season.
He explained what made the 2024 campaign ‘very special’ for McLaren and how the team are already exceeding their own expectations.
Oscar Piastri reveals McLaren’s ‘very special’ achievement during the 2024 F1 season
Piastri was asked if he expected success so soon in his career with McLaren and said: “No, I don’t think anyone did really.
“I think we had a good second half of the year last season and hoped that we could challenge for wins but I think they started coming a bit earlier than we thought.
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“I think by the end of the year we wanted to try and be fighting for that, you know, Lando won one pretty early on, and then we managed to win a few through the middle of the year which was very special.
“Then to come out as Constructors’ champions at the end, we wanted to crack into the top three, that was our big target but to walk away with the championship was a lot better than we expected which was very cool.”
Oscar Piastri won’t have to worry about supporting Lando Norris next season
Although McLaren may have exceeded their own and Piastri’s expectations, they face a very different pressure in 2025.
They’ll go into the season as one of the favourites, although everyone will be keeping a close eye on pre-season testing to see if anyone has managed to unlock an extra level of performance out of a ruleset that has been almost perfected since 2022.
Piastri was subject to papaya rules once it became clear that Norris was the only driver who could potentially challenge Verstappen.
READ MORE: All you need to know about McLaren F1 Team from team principal to engine
However, that won’t be the case at the beginning of the 2025 season when Piastri won’t have a disadvantage to Norris in the Drivers’ Championship.
If McLaren once again have the fastest car next year, then team principal Andrea Stella and CEO Zak Brown face a new problem.
They’ll need to make sure their drivers don’t clash, although Brown anticipates that Piastri and Norris will clash sooner rather than later.
Piastri may have an advantage over Norris when it comes to battling Verstappen which may end up making the difference next year.
McLaren will know 2025 presents the best opportunity for the team to win both championships in decades but may have to choose one driver to back sooner rather than later.
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