Oscar Piastri heaped reward on McLaren for the way it allowed himself and team-mate Lando Norris to battle pretty for the 2025 System 1 championship – regardless of criticism from outdoors.
The McLaren duo fought all 12 months for the title and it was Norris who got here out on high, sealing a maiden crown on the Abu Dhabi finale as he completed 13 factors above the Australian.
It was additionally a battle in contrast to many earlier team-mate title fights, because the pair fought amicably all through and willingly obliged to papaya guidelines, McLaren’s guideline for holding the whole lot truthful.
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That included Piastri handing second again to his rival in Monza after a sluggish pitstop for the Briton, or the ‘repercussion’ drama following Singapore as Norris collided into his team-mate mid-overtake.
The strategy actually break up opinion contemplating they’d take factors off one another and permit Max Verstappen to launch a late title bid, as Pink Bull is constructed across the four-time world champion.
However Piastri thinks McLaren did the fitting factor by not prioritising one driver over the opposite and revealed that’s prone to stay the identical when F1 introduces new rules in 2026.
“It’s a testomony to the best way we go racing,” he mentioned. “Clearly it isn’t simple combating for 2, the constructors’ championship and the drivers’ championship, with two very evenly matched drivers, however in the end that is an issue that we knew we had been going to have.
Lando Norris, McLaren, Oscar Piastri, McLaren
Photograph by: James Sutton / System 1 / System Motorsport Ltd through Getty Pictures
“On the finish of the day I feel there’s plenty of good issues that come from that. Sure, there’s troublesome moments and pressure at occasions, however I feel each Lando and I’ve grow to be higher drivers from pushing one another to the restrict.
“Typically that is been uncomfortable for everybody, however I feel in the end it has been a superb factor.
“We have clearly had plenty of discussions by the 12 months and I am positive we’ll have discussions within the low season about something we need to do barely otherwise for subsequent 12 months, however on the finish of the day they gave us each nearly as good of an opportunity because the workforce may must pretty battle for a world championship, and that is all you may ask for.”
Piastri was subsequently nonetheless fairly upbeat following the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as a result of he is aware of it’s been a superb season for him, having closed a factors deficit that stood at 82 to Norris final 12 months.
“Positively I will be very, very pleased with the season I’ve had,” added the 24-year-old, who led the championship between April and October this 12 months. “After I take a look at this season in comparison with my first two years in F1, this 12 months has been head and shoulders above the primary two.
“In the end, while the tip outcome shouldn’t be fairly what I needed, I feel there’s plenty of optimism and plenty of power that I’ve gained from proving to myself what I can obtain by this season and people are the type of issues that aren’t essentially tied to outcomes.
“So I feel for me I can undoubtedly take that forwards into the longer term, and it is solely my third try at this in F1. Hopefully I’ve acquired lots extra to go, however there’s undoubtedly classes from this 12 months that may solely make me stronger for the years to come back.”
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