Oscar Piastri has given an insight into his decision to sign a new longer-term deal with McLaren, with the Australian also reflecting on how the team will approach a potential intra-team battle between himself and Lando Norris should this occur in the year ahead.
Amid the preparations for his home event and the start of the 2025 campaign, it was confirmed this week that Piastri and the team have agreed a new multi-year contract extension, having previously been locked in at the squad through to at least the end of 2026.
LIVE COVERAGE: Follow all the build-up ahead of the Australian Grand Prix weekend
Quizzed ahead of this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix about the decision to commit to the papaya outfit long-term, Piastri – who made his debut on the grid with McLaren back in 2023 – responded: “It was from both sides. I was already signed up for this year and next, but it felt like just a very natural progression to sign for even longer-term.
“Last year was an incredible year for the team – I think my two years at the team have been pretty incredible, starting from where we were when I joined to being Constructors’ Champions now. It made a lot of sense in my mind to try and continue that and build with the team.
Piastri and Norris both have long-term contracts at McLaren
“Myself and Lando are both there for a long time now, Andrea [Stella] is on a long-term contract, Zak [Brown], key technical staff as well, so it seemed like a no-brainer and it was reciprocated from the team.”
Speaking of Norris, Piastri is feeling positive about how he can stack up against the Briton in the upcoming season.
“For myself I’m very confident in what I can do,” the 23-year-old said. “We’re going into the season starting from zero for both of us, and we’re both going to be trying to fight for a World Championship.
ANALYSIS: Why McLaren have locked down Piastri to a new contract extension now
“I’m pretty confident in what I can do. I’m aware that there’s things I need to do better from last season, but I’m confident that we’ve done a lot of hard work to try and improve that and go and have a good year.”
Pushed further on what the rules of engagement will be at McLaren should both himself and Norris find themselves fighting for the championship, Piastri explained: “We’re starting from a clean slate, and ultimately whoever is going to be faster out on track is going to be who wins, or whoever finishes higher if it’s not winning.
Piastri will race in front of his home crowd this weekend at the Australian Grand Prix
“We’re very much clear on how we’re going into the season, and that’s racing each other and trying to hopefully fight for wins. It’s all very clear and we’ve discussed a lot of it from last season and how we managed the backend of last year, and I think this year we’re starting from zero again, we’re both going to be trying our best to win.”
For now Piastri’s focus is on his home race this weekend, a championship event that no Australian has ever won at so far. Looking at his prospects of breaking this record, the McLaren driver was cautious about making any predictions off the back of pre-season testing in Bahrain last month.
“No-one really knows what to expect – testing went pretty well,” the two-time race winner conceded. “You don’t know where everybody sits. We’re pretty happy with how our test went.
“Melbourne is a completely different track to Bahrain, [the] weather’s going to be different to Bahrain and different every hour by the look of things.
“It’s going to be an interesting weekend. Hopefully we’ll expect to be somewhere at the front – whether that’s right at the pointy end, we’ll wait until Saturday [to find out] I think.”
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