Piastri lays down the gauntlet: ‘I can win the title this year’

After two impressive seasons in Formula 1 with McLaren, Oscar Piastri is entering 2025 brimming with confidence and ambition, and with the firm belief that he can fight for the world championship – and win it.

Although the young Australian driver contributed meaningfully to his team’s Constructors’ title in 2024, Piastri’s sophomore season was first and foremost a story of growth and adaptation.

While he showed flashes of brilliance early on, he acknowledged some areas where he needed to improve to match the consistent performance of his talented teammate, Lando Norris.

Norris's edge became more pronounced after McLaren's significant upgrade in Miami, leading to a win for the Briton and some tense moments of team dynamics.

Piastri himself grabbed a remarkable win in Baku – his second after Hungary, proving his race-winning potential.

Weaknesses Have Been Addressed

With McLaren’s MCL39 touted as a potential frontrunner, the 23-year-old believes he has what it takes to consistently challenge for victories and ultimately, the world championship.

“I do think that I can become world champion this year,” Piastri said, quoted by Autosport while speaking to the media during McLaren’s launch event at Silverstone.

“I feel like 12 months ago I was going into the season still with some weaknesses that I wasn't particularly confident with.

“Through last season I addressed them. It's now just about addressing them every weekend and making sure that I'm putting my best foot forward every weekend and that is what is going to be the difference.

“I'm confident and I think we've still got some things to work on. I'm definitely not the finished product but I don't think anyone necessarily is.

“If we can work on some of the things that we've set out to do in this off-season then I'll have a lot of tools to be able to try and make that happen.”

Qualifying Pace and Other Key Areas

One area Piastri has openly discussed as needing improvement is his qualifying pace. Norris held a dominant 20-4 qualifying record against him in 2024.

But Piastri's off-season work with McLaren's simulator has revealed other, more specific areas for development.

“We've gone into a lot of detail on how we can be better prepared for this season and some of the more specific driving opportunities,” he explained.

“I said at the end of last season qualifying is something I wanted to work on, but I think going through a lot of the details and things, it's not just qualify better.

“There's some specifics that if I can improve on those, it'll make everything better. Then you get the confidence and everything naturally helps itself.

“There's definitely some opportunities we've identified and I think if I can work on those, then hopefully those weekends at some points from last season [when Norris was clearly McLaren’s quicker driver] will disappear.

“You can still start to work on those things in the sim and build the right things. I think the opportunities that I have are things that you can work on in the sim.”

Building on Strengths

“I think there was a lot of strengths that I had last year as well.

“The races in particular, I had to fight for a lot of my finishes that I had last year and in a lot of cases had to improve from where I started and I think that side of things you can't really work on in the sim.

“I'm happy with a lot of the things I did last season but some of those opportunities we can already start working on now.”

With two years of experience under his belt, a clear understanding of his areas for improvement, and a potentially championship-winning car at his disposal, Oscar Piastri is ready to make a serious run for the 2025 Formula 1 World Championship.

Read also: New McLaren MCL39 breaks cover, hits the track in camo

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