"No brainer: Why Piastri was so keen to stay at McLaren

Oscar Piastri heads into the season opener at Albert Park with McLaren the favourites to win a second consecutive Constructor’s Title in 2025 after a strong showing in winter testing.

Despite being positioned well to become the first Aussie to win a home Grand Prix since it became an F1 World Championship round in 1985, the Melburnian is remaining reserved about his chances until the action gets underway at Albert Park – particularly with a 95 per cent chance of showers on Sunday for the race.

“I know what you want me to say, and everyone’s headline can be that. We’ll see, obviously, nobody knows what to expect”, said Piastri.

“Testing went pretty well…we’re pretty happy with how our test went, but Melbourne’s a completely different track from Bahrain, and the weather is going to be different from Bahrain and different every hour by the look of things.

“It's going to be an interesting week I’m sure but hopefully we’re expected to be somewhere up front, whether that’s right at the pointy end, we’ll wait until Saturday (in qualifying).”

Fresh from signing a multi-year contract extension to see him remain at McLaren, with the team achieving the ultimate prize last year, and a fourth place finish for him personally in the Drivers Championship, the Melburnian said the decision to remain in Papaya was a simple one.

“It felt like just a very natural progression to sign for a longer term,” said Piastri.

“I think my two years with 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 the team.

“Obviously both myself and Lando are there for a long time, Andrea (Stella, the team principal) is on a long-term contract, Zak (Brown, the CEO), technical staff as well.

“So yeah, it seems to be like a no-brainer and it was reciprocated from the team as well.”

Off the back of the recent release of Drive to Survive, the hit Netflix series that has been key to growing F1’s popularity and broadening its fanbase, Zak Brown was quoted as saying: “This is the start of the age of Lando Norris” did not particularly phase Piastri heading into a new season – and that he was confident it would be a level playing field out on track with his McLaren teammate.

“I haven’t watched, to be honest, I have a pretty good idea of what happens that I don’t need to watch it again on TV”, said the Aussie.

“There’s a lot of things in Drive to Survive that we never quite know how it’s been cut up…

“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 ahead and have a good year.

“We’re starting from a clean slate, and ultimately whoever’s gonna be faster out on track is gonna be who wins or finishes higher if it’s not winning. We’re very much clear on how we go into the season, that’s racing each other and hopefully trying to fight for wins.

When asked to rate his chances of winning the ultimate prize of a Driver’s Championship this year versus his British teammate and Australia's chances of claiming next summer's Ashes, the McLaren driver was confident about at least one good result.

“I’d like to think both of them. To get in early, the Ashes is not going to be a contest”, laughed Piastri.

“For the season, I’m confident in what I can do as a driver, and I think last year I proved to myself in a decent portion of the year what I’m capable of, and I really took confidence from the wins and the better wins from last year.

“With Lando it’s obvious he’s incredibly talented and it’s never going to be easy going up against him, but I’m confident in my own ability to try and prevail this year.”