The 2025 Formula 1 season is going to feel like a changing of the guard on the grid.
There will only be four drivers in the paddock aged 30 and above when the Australian Grand Prix rolls around.
World champions Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso will be joined by Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz in the over-30s club.
There will be seven drivers on the grid who weren’t born when Alonso made his F1 debut back in 2001 with Oscar Piastri arguably the most exciting of that group.
The McLaren star has already secured 10 podium finishes and two victories in his short career and will be the driver many of next year’s rookies look up having had a stellar junior career before reaching Formula 1.
Piastri had to obey papaya rules at McLaren last year when it looked like teammate Lando Norris had a chance to win the Drivers’ Championship.
However, that won’t be an issue heading into 2025 when he’ll once again be on a level playing field with the Brit.
Journalist Tim Hauraney was speaking on the Nailing The Apex Podcast and highlighted what people have been saying in the paddock all season about the 23-year-old.
It’s safe to say many within the sport consider Piastri one of the greatest hopes to end the Max Verstappen dynasty.
Everyone in the F1 paddock thinks McLaren star Oscar Piastri is ‘really special’
Hauraney was discussing who the most improved driver of the 2024 season was and Piastri’s name came up in the conversation, as well as RB driver Yuki Tsunoda.
He said: “Oscar was going to be one of the drivers [in the conversation].
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“Everyone I talk to in the paddock, they all say the same thing, I think all of us do.
“We just have that feeling that, you know, Oscar is somebody really special.
“I can definitely see him being a world champion.
“But I also see that icy cold, that’s just simmering there You can just see it, right and I love that?”
Oscar Piastri could be Lando Norris’ biggest enemy heading into 2025
McLaren head into 2025 with a target on their back as Constructors’ champions following a season where they nailed all of their update packages while those around them struggled.
Ferrari’s big update for the Spanish Grand Prix ultimately cost them the title as they took a few steps backwards at a key point in the campaign.
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella delayed a floor update as he was worried about what he had seen happen to other teams throughout 2024.
READ MORE: McLaren driver Oscar Piastri’s life outside F1 from height to girlfriend
If McLaren stay on the right path, then their two drivers may end up being the favourites to win the Drivers’ Championship.
Piastri has been described as potentially Norris’ biggest enemy for 2025 given how quickly he’s improving race-by-race.
He’s shown glimpses – such as in Hungary and Baku – of being even faster than Norris but needs to reach that level consistently to be a championship contender.
