Oscar Piastri is a dark horse for the 2025 Formula 1 world championship. The McLaren driver finished fourth last year, nearly 150 points off Max Verstappen, but he absolutely shouldn’t be discounted.
Piastri is approaching his third season as a F1 driver. While his personal development curve won’t be as steep as it was 12 months ago, he should take another step.
The Australian is, theoretically at least, further from his ceiling than teammate Lando Norris, Verstappen or Charles Leclerc. His world-class performance at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the site of his second race win, was the clearest indication yet that he can win a title.
Piastri lost ground in the first and final thirds of the season, but in between, he was F1’s most productive driver. He finished in the top four at eight consecutive races from Austria to Singapore, a sequence that included six podiums.
Clearly, he must be more consistent this season to take full advantage of McLaren’s expected speed. Piastri also needs to improve in qualifying, where he only beat Norris three times last season.
McLaren are prioritising their constructors’ title defence heading into 2025. That’s potentially good news for Piastri, who will receive equal treatment despite trailing his teammate by 82 points last term.
Oscar Piastri says he and Lando Norris took responsibility for mistakes at McLaren
Speaking to ESPN, Piastri offered insight on McLaren’s end-of-season review talks. He’d reported to Silverstone on Thursday to drive the MCL39 for the first time in a shakedown.
Piastri says that both he and Norris were willing to take ownership of their mistakes. They refused to blame the other driver for lost points.
While Andrea Stella’s squad won the constructors’ for the first time since 1998, defeating Ferrari by 14 points, the consensus was that they missed an opportunity to put Verstappen under more pressure. Norris says McLaren must address their ‘shocking’ starts after losing significant ground to the Dutchman.
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Piastri said: “For me, one point I’m quite proud to share is that when we reviewed last season, the drivers and the team – most of the time represented by myself – we always looked at ourselves. ‘I could have done this better,’ rather than Lando saying ‘Oscar should have done this better,’ and Oscar saying ‘Lando should have done this better.’
“So I think we take some learning from last year, but already I think that was positive in terms of how we interacted and acted together as a team, and then we will start from this concept of equal opportunities and our racing principles.”
Oscar Piastri on the ‘incredible’ thing about his partnership with Lando Norris
Piastri is clear about his championship aspirations for 2025. But there’s also a willingness to help his teammate if, in the final stretch of the season, he’s the only one with a realistic title chance.
Last year, he moved over to let Norris win the Sprint at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. The Briton returned the favour in Qatar, by which point Verstappen was already champion.
The two McLaren drivers are ‘incredibly respectful’ on track, Piastri says. Even with the stakes raised, there’s no sign of any cracks in their relationship.
Reflecting on last season, Zak Brown says his drivers misunderstood the ‘papaya rules’ at the Italian Grand Prix, when Piastri’s aggressive lap one move pushed Norris down to third. For the most part, though, he was delighted with their attitude.
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