Oscar Piastri notes of rules of engagement heading into F1 2025, as he talks about confidence about new season and objective to fight from first race.
Although Piastri showed glimpses of sound performance in 2024 F1 season, the McLaren driver still lacked bit of consistency to out-perform teammate Lando Norris and be in a favourable position. In certain races he was, but had to help the Brit too considering his position.
But 2025 season is a new start not just for him but the whole McLaren team. The rules of engagement certainly will be on zero to start the year which gives equal opportunities, something which Piastri is looking to pounce upon and build his season on that.
“It’s definitely a clean slate,” said Piastri to F1 website. “Everyone is starting on zero again, and I think last season towards the end it was natural that I still had the opportunities to go out and put my best foot forward. Yes there were a couple of situations where I ended up helping Lando, but there were some ways he still helped out me so it wasn’t as clear-cut as that.
“But definitely we are starting on a clean slate and I do think that I can become World Champion this year. I feel like 12 months ago I was going into the season still with some weaknesses that I wasn’t particularly confident with. I think 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, I think we’ve still got some things to work on and [we’re] definitely not the finished product, but I don’t think anyone necessarily is and I think 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 to make that happen. I think that we’re crystal clear going into the start of the season.
“Like I’ve said, we’re both starting on zero. There’s every opportunity for either one of us to go win races. Of course if there becomes a points difference in either direction towards the end of the season and we need our team mate’s help then we’ll try and help each other out. But that’s still going to be a long, long way away and hopefully never comes to fruition.
“Bbecause I think for either one of us we want to win because we’ve been able to put in the performances ourselves, so going into the season we’ll be racing each other hard but fairly, and hopefully it’s more often than not [that we’re] fighting for first and second,” summed up Piastri, who reiterates that the idea is to fight for the title from Race 1 onward.
The 2024 season wasn’t as plain since Red Bull started on a sound note, which helped Max Verstappen win the title, even though they lost the constructors’ to McLaren. The Woking-based outfit held a filming day with Piastri and Norris with the MCL39, which had new features, even though the regulations have not changed hugely for the 2025 season.
“That’s our objective to fight for the titles from the first race,” said Piastri. “Last season, the first few races were a little more difficult than we would have liked and then we came on strong from Miami with that first upgrade. Hopefully we can start the year on that note instead of having to wait a few races. As a team we are in a strong place.
“We have gained some confidence and gained experience in the last 12 months of how to be a race-winning and championship-winning team again. For myself, being part of that environment is incredibly exciting. I feel like I have all the tools at my disposal now, which I don’t think I necessarily felt 12 months ago.
“It’s now about making sure I use them all the time and put my best foot forward as often as I can. I’ve got confidence from getting wins under my belt – so I know I can do it. It’s just about trying to do that more often. I’m confident I’ve got what it takes this year and hopefully we can come out with a strong car at the beginning of the season and start our year on the right foot,” summed up Piastri.
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Here’s Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri on busy winter, test
Here’s McLaren testing with Pirelli again
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