Oscar Piastri reveals key behind title change gains

Drivers’ Championship leader Oscar Piastri believes he’s a more complete driver now than he was a year ago.

The McLaren driver has netted six race wins in F1 2025 and heads McLaren teammate Lando Norris in the drivers’ standings by nine points after 14 races.

Oscar Piastri believes he has improved as a driver in the last 12 months

Piastri arrived in Formula 1 in 2023 following a stellar junior career that netted three championships in as many seasons through Formula Renault, Formula 3, and Formula 2.

The Australian claimed his maiden at the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix, backing that up with a strong drive under intense pressure to win in Azerbaijan.

He started the F1 2025 campaign strongly too, shadowing his highly-rated teammate for much of the Australian GP before skating off the road in slippery conditions.

However, he bounced back to win in China, take a podium in Japan, before taking three wins in row from Bahrain to Miami.

In the opening 14 races of the season, the 24-year-old has never finished outside of the points – and has been off the podium only twice.

That consistency has seen him snag the lead in the Drivers’ Championship by nine points as he proves a worthy adversary to Norris for this year’s crown, a year on from his first F1 win.

“I think just developing a little bit in a lot of areas,” he said when asked what has changed over the past years to explain his sudden rise in performance.

“Last year, I felt like I had some weekends that were very strong, and felt like I had enough to win races on my good days, but there was a lot of average and sometimes bad days in between.

“I think this year has been full of a lot more good days. I think I have improved as a driver. I’ve been able to just get closer to what I think I’m capable of more often, and I think that’s been the biggest thing.

“It’s not come from one specific area, it’s come from looking at lots of different things. But I think just being able to execute what I think is my best more and more often, that’s been the difference.”

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That rise has seen him emerge as a bone fide championship contender, prompting McLaren to assert that it will not afford preferential treatment to either of its drivers.

Instead, they’re permitted to battle it out on track, the only limitation being that they don’t jeopardise the team’s chances of title success.

While Piastri holds only a nine-point advantage over Norris, Max Verstappen in third is 97 points off the top of the standings. The F1 2025 battle is, increasingly, becoming a two-horse race between the McLaren pair.

“I suppose so,” Piastri agreed. “Every weekend now it has been, or for the last few weekends anyway, it’s been Lando and I.

“I expect our competition to still be strong and put up a good fight, especially at certain tracks through the rest of the year. But whether that comes from Max, or Ferrari, or Mercedes, or someone else maybe, we never really know.

“I’m not too concerned about what happens in that I’m just trying to win each race and extend the lead,” he continued. “But, you know, I think clearly Lando and I are in the same car, which is the best, and he’s naturally going to be the closest competition.”

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