Oscar Piastri has described McLaren's progress over the past two seasons as "remarkable," highlighting the team's impressive resurgence as a significant positive for Formula 1's 2025 campaign.
McLaren faced a challenging start to the 2023 season, struggling for pace and points. However, a crucial upgrade introduced mid-season transformed their fortunes, catapulting them from the bottom of the builders' standings to fourth by year's end.
This momentum carried over into 2024, with both Piastri and Lando Norris securing multiple race wins and McLaren ultimately clinching F1's Constructors' Championship.
“It's kind of back into familiar territory from a lot of my junior racing,” commented Piastri in a podcast with Speedcafe.
“Obviously there's a lot more at stake in Formula 1 in the constructors' championship than any of the teams' championships before, or even drivers' championships.
“It's been not, not too daunting [or] overwhelming. “It's been just a lot of fun and a satisfying thing to try and target.”
A Challenging Start
While the championship fight was intense, with Ferrari mounting a late challenge, McLaren's consistent performance throughout the season proved crucial.
Norris ultimately fell short in the drivers' standings against Max Verstappen, but McLaren's Constructors' title was the highlight of the season, secured by a thin margin over the Scuderia.
The dramatic swing began at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, where McLaren trailed Red Bull by a daunting 114 points, but the team emerged as its rivals faltered.
“The first part of the season, we lost a lot of points to Red Bull and Verstappen in the drivers' standings, so trying to claw that back has been incredibly tough for both of us,” Piastri admitted.
“The pressures that come with the championship fight start to come back, which, again, is kind of a familiar feeling.
“But I think it's definitely amped up a little bit when you know you're trying to get a Formula 1 championship.”
McLaren's consistency stands out
While the opening stages of Formula 1's 2024 campaign were dominated by the Red Bull/Verstappen combo, by the end of the summer a four-way battle had ensued, with McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes all enjoying dominant wins.
However, McLaren's consistency clearly stood out, a factor that Piastri attributes in large part to the team's meticulous approach to development.
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“There's a confidence within the team that's very strong,” explained the two-time Grand Prix winner.
“The developments we've been able to make in the last 24 months across the car have been pretty remarkable.
“The big thing for us is everything we've put on the car has delivered what we expected.
“There's been certain points this season where the developments behind the scenes maybe didn't come quite as quickly as we would have liked, but once we were happy with them, we put them on the car, and they worked as we wanted.
“We're probably one of the only teams on the grid that can say we've been happy with our correlation throughout the whole year.”
“Ferrari had a few struggles with correlation there in the year, Red Bull kind of still going through them towards the end, and Mercedes, Vegas, for example, they were very, very fast, but I'm not sure they still know why .”
Correlation and understanding are key
Piastri emphasized the importance of maintaining this technical clarity as regulations grow increasingly complex.
“Having that correlation and understanding is very important,” he added.
“Of course, you need the lap time to get it back up, but hopefully we can continue that kind of confidence and correlation into next season, and that'll put us in good stead.
“The regs are getting so complicated and the aerodynamics getting so complicated that they can often fall over themselves, so I think finding that limit is a very important thing for next year.”
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