Confident Oscar Piastri lays out intentions with bold F1 title claim

Oscar Piastri believes he has what it takes to become F1 world champion this year.

The 23-year-old Australian is embarking on his third full F1 season with McLaren and is eyeing up a title challenge, having watched teammate Lando Norris fall short last year against Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

Piastri and Norris helped McLaren secure their first constructors’ world championship for 26 years in 2024 and now Piastri has his eyes set on the drivers’ crown.

"I do think that I can become world champion this year," Piastri said.

“I feel like 12 months ago I was going into the season still with some weaknesses that I wasn't particularly confident with.

“Through last season I addressed them and it's now just about addressing them every weekend.

"I'm confident and I think we've still got some things to work on. I'm definitely not the finished product but I don't think anyone necessarily is.

“If we can work on some of the things that we've set out to do in this off-season, then I'll have a lot of tools to be able to try and make that happen.”

Piastri claimed two victories last term as he finished fourth in the drivers’ standings behind Verstappen, Norris and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

Going into this third campaign, Piastri feels more prepared to challenge at the very front of the grid.

"There were definitely a couple of weekends where I wasn't as strong as I wanted to be," he added.

"I think it's building up the resilience to be able to adapt a bit quicker in the weekends. We've gone into a lot of detail on how we can be better prepared for this season and some of the more specific driving opportunities.

"I said at the end of last season qualifying is something I wanted to work on, but I think going through a lot of the details and things, it's not just qualifying better. There are some specifics that if I can improve on those, it'll make everything better.

“Then you get the confidence and everything naturally helps itself. There are definitely some opportunities we've identified and if I can work on those, then hopefully those weekends at some point from last season will disappear.

"Ultimately what's going to be important this season is putting your best foot forward every weekend, because there are going to be weekends where you're not the quickest. It's how you can still make the most of those weekends where you're not on top."