No chest‑beating, no slogans—just a driver quietly turning the screw. Oscar Piastri, leading the 2025 championship after 14 rounds, says he’s simply a more complete racer than he was a year ago. The evidence is hard to argue with: six wins, points every weekend, and only two races off the podium. He heads McLaren teammate Lando Norris by nine points, and the title fight is increasingly a papaya civil war.
Piastri’s rise has felt inevitable since he landed in F1 in 2023 off the back of that ruthless junior streak. The breakthrough came last year: first win in Hungary, then a nerveless drive under pressure in Baku. This season, he’s used that foundation with a sharper edge. He shadowed Norris in a slippery Melbourne opener before skidding off, then reset to win in China, bag a podium in Japan and rattle off three straight victories from Bahrain to Miami. Since then, it’s been relentless execution.
“Just developing a little bit in a lot of areas,” Piastri said when asked what’s changed. “Last year, I felt like I had some weekends that were very strong… 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’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 isn’t one magic bullet. “It’s not come from one specific area,” he added. “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.”
McLaren, to its credit, hasn’t overcomplicated the picture. No preferential treatment, no pre‑ordained number one—just a clear instruction not to throw away the bigger prizes. With Max Verstappen a distant third in the standings, 97 points adrift of the lead, the championship has a distinctly in‑house feel.
“I suppose so,” Piastri admitted. “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… but whether that comes from Max, or Ferrari, or Mercedes, or someone else, 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. Lando and I are in the same car, which is the best, and he’s naturally going to be the closest competition.”
Two teammates, one car to beat, and a title that may be decided by who strings together more of those “good days” Piastri now delivers on repeat.
