Anticipation of the 2025 Formula 1 season is ramping up after McLaren became the first team to run their car on track for this year at Silverstone.
McLaren allowed both Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris to complete laps in the MCL39 as part of their filming day allocation, which enables teams to have at least 200km of running (or 33 laps of Silverstone).
The MCL39 was adorned in a special cameo livery which Norris said was a ‘fun’ way to draw attention to the team, given they did not want to use last years livery because it would show changes too easily and they can’t use their 2025 livery as it will be unveiled at the F1 75 event in London.
There is a lot of anticipation over whether McLaren will challenge for the title, with Norris tipped by Martin Brundle to be the favourite after his dominant Abu Dhabi performance.
Piastri is seen as a dark horse given his current experience, but speaking to Sky Sports he has outlined what his goals are for the 2025 season, and they might worry Norris.
Oscar Piastri says it would be ‘silly’ if he didn’t challenge Lando Norris for 2025 title
Piastri demonstrated that he has the talent to win races last year, taking victories at the Hungarian and Azerbaijan Grands Prix.
McLaren was found to be using a trick ‘Mini DRS’ in Baku, which was later banned by the FIA, but Piastri showed how he could pile the pressure on experienced Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc.
Given McLaren’s pace last year, Piastri has outlined what his goals are for 2025 and they could cause some concern for Norris’ attempt at winning his first title.
“I’m definitely going into this season with the aim of challenging for a championship, and try to challenge for both championships,” said Piastri.
“With the success we had last year it would be silly to try prepare for anything less, we know we’ll have a lot of tough competition this year but we’ve proved last year that we’re a team to be reckoned with and the preparation is with that championship in mind.
Oscar Piastri expects Lando Norris battle to stay ‘respectful’ after 2025 team orders
If McLaren emerges as the team to beat in 2025, they will more than likely have to deal with an intra-team battle between Norris and Piastri.
The Australian has outlined why he thinks it will stay ‘respectful’ between the pair, after they came close to colliding on occasion in 2024.
“It will definitely stay respectful. Part of our success has been that we’ve worked together so well as a team. I think myself and Lando have always been trying to get ourselves to first and second, and then fighting amongst ourselves,” said Piastri.
“We’re not too far away from doing that now. I think we’ve proved that time and time again that we’re incredibly respectful, have a lot of respect for each other. We’ll race each other hard of course, but make sure we finish first and second.”
McLaren enacted ‘Papaya Rules’ between the pair last year, when it was clear Piastri was needlessly taking points off Norris while he was in a title battle with Max Verstappen.
Piastri would go on to ‘give up’ the Sprint race win at Sao Paulo to help Norris, a favour the latter repaid at Qatar when the title race had finished. Whether the same happens this year will be a question they may have to answer in the early stages of the season.
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