Damon Hill to Oscar Piastri: next time, put yourself first
McLaren stuck to their guns in 2025. No team orders. No number one. Two drivers with the same kit and the same chance to win it all. Lando Norris made that blueprint sing and walked away as World Champion. Oscar Piastri? He leaves with a season that was good enough to be great, and a pile of what-ifs.
At one point, the Australian had the title by the scruff of the neck. After the Dutch Grand Prix, he was 34 points clear and looking every bit the man to beat. Then came the late-season wobble while Norris and Max Verstappen came on strong. By Abu Dhabi, it was a three-way decider. Piastri did what he could, finishing behind Verstappen, but it left him third in the standings as Norris sealed the crown.
None of that happens in a vacuum. McLaren’s much-discussed “let them race” policy delivered high drama and some polarising calls. Monza was the flashpoint. A slow stop dropped Norris behind after he’d been ahead on the road; Piastri was asked to let his teammate back through. He did. The reasoning made sense inside the team’s fairness doctrine. The optics, as it turned out, were brutal.
Damon Hill didn’t gloss over it. Speaking on the Drive to Wynn podcast, the 1996 World Champion suggested Piastri should head into 2026 with sharper elbows — even if that means pushing back against the team’s equal-opportunity mantra.
“He’s had some bad luck and he’s also lost out because McLaren have tried to be scrupulously fair,” Hill said, pointing to Monza as Exhibit A. “That’s a big thing to give away when you’re fighting the same guy for a world title. If I were Oscar next year, I’d be clear: I love the team, but I’ve got to think about my career. If you’re asking me to hand points back again, why would I? I can’t afford it.”
It’s not hard to see Hill’s point. In a season as fine-edged as 2025, tiny swings became title-defining. McLaren got the collective reward — both drivers in the fight, one champion — but the individual cost was carried by the guy who led most of the summer. That’s the paradox of parity: it’s fair until it isn’t.
Piastri, for his part, kept it measured and mature after the flag fell in Abu Dhabi. He was disappointed, sure, but pragmatic. The year gave him new tools — poles, wins, hard knocks — and, crucially, the confidence that he belongs at the sharp end every weekend.
“I’d have liked a different ending,” he admitted to media after the race, “but I’ve learned a huge amount about myself as a driver and as a person. If you’d offered me the poles, the wins, the podiums at the start of the year, I’d have taken it. Even in the tough moments, there are lessons I’ll carry forward.”
He also tipped his cap to Norris, calling his teammate a deserving champion after the pair pushed each other to the limit all season. That relationship — respectful, tight, occasionally tense — has been the spine of McLaren’s resurgence. And it sets up the question everyone’s already asking for 2026: how long can you run equal rules when both sides of the garage are chasing one prize?
There’s no easy answer, and McLaren will back themselves to walk the tightrope again. They’ve earned that right. But this is a different Oscar Piastri now. He’s had the lead of a championship, felt it slip, and knows exactly where the margins were shaved. Monza won’t be forgotten. Neither will a rough Qatar weekend that left him reeling at the time.
That doesn’t mean scorched earth. It means edge. Saying no when it matters. Finding the selfish gear that all serial winners have without tearing down the house around you. Piastri’s calm exterior hides a pretty steely core; 2026 will likely bring more of it to the surface.
As for Norris, he did what champions do — absorbed the pressure, capitalised when the tide turned, and brought it home when it counted. Verstappen kept them both honest. It was old-school stuff between three drivers who rarely left each other any oxygen yet somehow kept the racing clean more often than not.
McLaren turned themselves into the benchmark this season. Keeping the harmony while their drivers go at it again might be the biggest challenge yet. And if Piastri takes Hill’s advice, expect a little less charity and a little more needle. The title window is open. He knows how quickly it can slam shut.
