Oscar Piastri hoping for fast start to F1 title challenge in Melbourne at Australian Grand Prix

Oscar Piastri is set to race in this week's Australian Grand Prix carrying unprecedented expectations. The Melbourne-born McLaren driver has a genuine opportunity to win his home Grand Prix, a feat no Australian driver has achieved since the event was incorporated into the Formula One World Championship. This adds extra pressure and excitement for the young driver.

The McLaren team has emerged strongly in the 2024 season, winning their first F1 team title since 1998, with Piastri securing victories in the Hungarian and Azerbaijan races. However, teammate Lando Norris has performed equally well, winning four races and challenging eventual champion Max Verstappen. Verstappen, in the eyes of most, secured the championship after ten rounds, demonstrating his dominance.

McLaren's rise and the maturity of Piastri and Norris mean that the team's goals are far more than just the 2025 championship. Piastri, hoping to become the first Australian world champion since Alan Jones in 1980, stated that he needs to go all out from the start of the season. He aims to make a strong statement early on.

"Of course, I go into the races with the hope and ambition to fight for a drivers’ title and to help the team defend its teams’ title," Piastri said in an interview with McLaren ahead of the season-opening race in Melbourne. "Given the season we’ve just had, it would be silly to aim for anything less than that – certainly to prepare for anything less than that – but we’ll see how we get out there and reassess from there." He acknowledges the high expectations and the need for continuous evaluation.

At certain stages of the 2024 season, Piastri was asked to cooperate with Norris, as the British driver had a chance to chase Verstappen in the drivers' championship. The Australian driver needs to stay at his best to avoid McLaren considering team orders against him again. For Piastri, consistency will be key to success. After two full seasons, the Australian driver says he has been able to learn and progress to become an F1 driver. "Last year, for the most part, was a progression from where I started my rookie season, but there’s still improvements to be made," he said. "I think the weekends I performed well were very strong, but it’s about getting to that level every single weekend. That’s the key. There’s some specific areas I want to focus on improving speed, but it’s mainly trying to be at my best all the time."

However, the challenge comes not only from teammate Norris. Verstappen is trying to win his fifth consecutive world title. Ferrari has recruited seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, and Mercedes hopes to return to its former glory. McLaren showed very strong performance in pre-season testing in Bahrain, while Ferrari, Red Bull, and Mercedes also had positive performances. "I think there’s going to be great competition between the top four teams," Piastri said. "As the rules stay the same, it becomes harder to improve the car performance, so I think the audience will have an exciting year – for the teams, we might have a tense year."