Source : ABC NEWS
Australia’s Formula 1 ace Oscar Piastri is enjoying his time off ahead of the 2025 season.
Catching up with loved ones and being a guest of the Australian cricket team at the Boxing Day Test have all been part of the 23-year-old’s summer holidays.
But when asked by ABC Sport what his goals were for the upcoming 2025 F1 season, Piastri answered with one emphatic word: “Win.”
Oscar Piastri was at the Boxing Day Test between Australia and India in Melbourne during the Formula 1 off-season. (Getty Images: Cricket Australia/Morgan Hancock)
Last season, Piastri progressed from a rookie with plenty of promise to a grand prix winner and a star of the sport.
In just his second season of F1, Piastri produced drives that were beyond his years and showed the best was yet to come by continuing to improve as the season progressed.
He finished the year with two grand prix wins, a sprint race win, fourth in the drivers’ championship and helped McLaren to their first constructors’ championship in 26 years.
Now, Piastri enters a season with the expectation that he, along with teammate Lando Norris, will be in the thick of the battle for this year’s drivers’ championship.
Piastri finished fourth in the drivers’ championship last season. (Reuters: Leonhard Foeger)
Four-time defending champion Max Verstappen is expected to be the man to beat in 2025, but McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes all showed last year they had the car and the drivers to potentially end the Dutchman’s reign of dominance.
Knowing he can match it with the best and win, Piastri has set his sights on becoming the first Aussie to be F1 champion since Alan Jones in 1980.
“I’m really looking forward to next year. Winning will be the goal from day one,” Piastri told ABC Sport.
“It is going to be a fight, for sure. The top teams are top teams for a reason, and they will all want to come back at us in 2025.”
Norris garnered much of the attention between the pair in 2024, with the Brit mounting an exciting, but ultimately unsuccessful, challenge to Verstappen.
But with a pair of grand prix wins and plenty of podiums achieved, Piastri showed he was ready to join the fight at the top every weekend.
“I’ve only completed two seasons in F1 so it’s natural that I still have a lot of room to grow and improve. That’s what I’m most excited by as I know there is a lot more to come.
“You can’t buy experience but I’m gradually gaining that in this category and I’m very excited for the future.”
As Norris pushed Verstappen in the drivers’ championship last season, Piastri’s team asked him to prioritise his British teammate over himself.
The decision came after Piastri performed a spectacular overtake on his teammate to take the lead of the Italian Grand Prix on the first lap.
Ferrari ultimately produced a race strategy that guided Charles Leclerc to the win over Piastri and then Norris, costing the Brit several points in his quest to chase down Verstappen.
Piastri’s manager, Mark Webber, had to deal with internal politics during his career,
Asked if he had spoken to his manager about that, Piastri said it was not of his concern and McLaren would allow him and Norris to battle in 2025.
“It’s not something I’m focused on, really. More focused on racing and winning,” he said.
“I helped out Lando and the team when I was asked towards the end of the year. I know that if the roles are reversed, I will be helped, too.
“Next year, we will be free to race each other.”
Piastri’s challenge for the drivers’ championship will begin in the perfect location for the Victorian, in front of his home fans in Melbourne.
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The Australian Grand Prix starts the season for the first time since 2019, with several plotlines already brewing.
There are high hopes McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes can provide fans with a four-way fight for the constructors’ championship.
There are also high expectations that several drivers will be in the running for the world title deep into the season.
Melbourne will also host Lewis Hamilton’s debut race for Ferrari, while Australian Jack Doohan races in front of his home fans in an F1 car for the first time.
“It’s awesome that the season-opener is in my backyard. I’m biased but Melbourne is such a special atmosphere and the fans always come out in force,” Piastri said.
“The reception that I’ve had there the past two seasons has given me goosebumps and I know that 2025 will be no different. I can’t wait for it.”
The Australian Grand Prix will be the first of 24 grands prix in the 2025 F1 season.
The race weekend will be held from March 14-16 at Albert Park.
