If we went back twelve months, before the start of the 2024 season, expectations around Oscar Piastri were certainly high, especially after his first year in Formula 1 where he showed important signs of growth. It’s important to remember that, despite the simulator, the Australian hadn’t raced on several tracks before that moment, especially those in the second part of the season for overseas trips.
Despite clear areas for improvement, as with every rookie, Oscar Piastri had shown enough to suggest he could start bothering Lando Norris more consistently in 2024. However, in reality, what was missing for the Australian was exactly consistency, because throughout the recently concluded season, he showed great highs, achieving several wins, but also moments that were harder to manage.
There are two main areas where Oscar Piastri has demonstrated the need to improve beyond pure consistency: qualifying and tire management during the race. When Oscar Piastri started from the front row, he tended to stand out over the long distance, but when his performance was lacking in the single lap, issues also emerged during the race.
The Australian didn’t always manage to feel the MCL38 in his hands and, even more so, he wasn’t always able to use it in the best way when it came to extracting the last tenths in Q3, an area where the McLaren driver knows he has room for improvement.
In this regard, his 2024 closely mirrors his 2023, where he had highs showing flashes of talent but suffered from the inexperience that was expected to improve in his second year. To provide a reference, while Norris achieved eight poles, Oscar Piastri in 2024 finished with zero, managing only five front-row starts.
In terms of tire management over long distances, Oscar Piastri has shown progress thanks to a better understanding of the tires themselves, an aspect that comes with experience for a rookie. However, compared to Norris, what was missing here, too, was consistency throughout the entire season.
In this sense, 2025 will be a sort of test for Oscar Piastri, a year where he will need to continue his development and fulfill his potential. Despite a 2024 where perhaps more was expected, the McLaren driver believes he has all the tools to win, but also that it will be up to him to use them while continuing to improve his consistency.
When asked if he believes he could be a contender for the title in 2025, Oscar Piastri replied: “I think so. I still have to learn and improve. I think I’m now reaching a phase where on some days I feel I almost have all the tools I need. It’s just that I’m not putting them together as much as I’d like. It feels like last year I didn’t have all the necessary tools. I had some, but others were missing.”
“This year, if I don’t have them all, I definitely have many more [than before]. Whether it’s race pace, qualifying rhythm, or racing with others, I feel I’ve shown good signs in this sense, or even in some of these areas. Overall, I’m very satisfied.”
As always, when you fight at the front, the scenarios change. In the midfield, the attention on you is different, but when fighting at the front, particularly for the world title, every mistake carries more weight, especially since you’re competing with the best. Lando Norris himself knows this well, as in previous years he had made several mistakes, but they had less impact on his standings: in contrast, in 2024, those same mistakes constantly cost him the opportunity to realistically fight for the title.
“I think now it’s necessary to put everything together. Now that we’re fighting at the front, we expose ourselves to any flaw that we can’t perfect more than you would at the midfield. But I feel I have all the necessary tools. I just need to be able to use them consistently,” Piastri added.
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