Oscar Piastri’s Formula 1 career appears poised for greatness as he enters the 2025 season with a genuine opportunity to fight for the world championship. The young Australian driver – now heading into his third season in the sport – has shown incredible progress since his rookie year. Last term, he picked up two Grand Prix victories, and with his McLaren team emerging as one of the fastest teams on the grid for the first time in a generation, the pieces of the puzzle are starting to fall into place.
But for all his improvement over the past year, can Piastri really dethrone seasoned competitors like Max Verstappen, his teammate Lando Norris, and rivals like Charles Leclerc?
A Breakthrough 2024 Season
Piastri’s 2024 season firmly established him as one of F1’s quickest stars. The Melbourne-born driver managed to clinch two victories, firstly in contentious fashion in Hungary before claiming a more dominant result in Azerbaijan. He amassed a mighty 292 points throughout the campaign, good enough for fourth place in the driver’s championship, ahead of the likes of seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes lead driver George Russell, and outgoing Ferrari man Carlos Sainz.
His remarkable run of form helped his papaya team to the constructor’s championship for the first time in over a quarter of a century. Teammate Norris was also a crucial contributor to that, finishing second in the championship with 374 points and four race wins.
While his more experienced teammate outscored him, Piastri demonstrated moments of brilliance that proved his ability to compete at the sharp end of the grid. He began to come into his midway through the season, claiming six podium finishes in eight races between the Austrian Grand Prix and Singapore. His exploits gave McLaren a decision to make as to which driver to favour in the championship, and by the time they settled on Norris at the US Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, it was arguably too little too late.
Now, the pair begin the highly-anticipated F1 2025 season level on points, and it remains to be seen which driver will be favoured throughout the opening races of the campaign.
McLaren’s Resurgence
Perhaps one of the biggest reasons for optimism about Piastri’s 2025 prospects is McLaren’s resurgence. The team was the class of the field in 2024, thanks to significant upgrades introduced early in the season. To put it bluntly, the British team built an absolute rocketship at their Woking HQ, and the car was comfortably the fastest on the grid throughout the second half of the season.
Dominance in both qualifying and race pace gave McLaren the edge to fend off challenges from Ferrari and Red Bull to claim a competitive Constructors’ Championship battle. Unfortunately for them, neither of their drivers could truly challenge Max Verstappen for the world championship.
Norris looked to be the one in the best position, but he proved to be too inconsistent. He threw away the lead from pole position on the opening lap of no fewer than six races and threw away an estimated 92 points through driver errors. Piastri meanwhile was a far steadier hand, but he was too far away from Verstappen to challenge by the time the McLaren had genuine opportunities to win races.
Internal Drama
As such then, Piastri’s first task is gaining the upper hand over his teammate and thus securing a favourable position with the McLaren pit wall. The Papaya outfit seemed unwilling to back Norris over the Aussie until it was too late last season, something that reared its head in ugly fashion at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
That weekend in Budapest, Piastri seemed primed and ready to win his first-ever F1 race. However, a favourable pit call for Norris left the Brit in the lead of the race at Piastri’s expense. With Norris a genuine title challenger at this point, many thought that McLaren would simply let the two race to the chequered flag. Instead, they ordered their championship protagonist to give the lead back to Piasatri, a decision that baffled onlookers.
The pair would do battle on track weeks later in Monza, and the civil war unfolding on track cost McLaren the victory, with Charles Leclerc instead winning in front of an adoring Ferrari public.
Some of McLaren’s questionable decisions last term could suggest that they would prefer Paistri to be in championship contention. He proved to be a far steadier hand than the erratic Norris, but he must hit the ground running at the start of the new season to grab lead driver status.
Can Piastri Go All the Way in 2025?
Oscar Piastri undoubtedly has the potential to mount a title challenge. He has the talent, the team, and the car to upset the established order. However, success in 2025 will require more than just raw speed. Piastri will need to be ruthlessly consistent, take the fight to his teammate – especially in qualifying – and master the fine margins that separate champions from almost-rans.
His willingness to grow and his determination to push the limits leave no doubt that he will be a force to be reckoned with. But whether that ultimately culminates with the first Australian World Champion since Alan Jones some 45 years ago remains to be seen.
