Oscar Piastri heaped praise on McLaren for how it allowed himself and team-mate Lando Norris to fight fairly for the 2025 Formula 1 championship - despite criticism from outside.
The McLaren duo fought all year for the title and it was Norris who came out on top, sealing a maiden crown at the Abu Dhabi finale as he finished 13 points above the Australian.
It was also a battle unlike many previous team-mate title fights, as the pair fought amicably throughout and willingly obliged to papaya rules, McLaren’s guideline for keeping everything fair.
That included Piastri handing second back to his rival in Monza after a slow pitstop for the Briton, or the ‘repercussion’ drama following Singapore as Norris collided into his team-mate mid-overtake.
The approach certainly split opinion considering they’d take points off each other and allow Max Verstappen to launch a late title bid, as Red Bull is built around the four-time world champion.
But Piastri thinks McLaren did the right thing by not prioritising one driver over the other and revealed that is likely to remain the same when F1 introduces new regulations in 2026.
“It is a testament to the way we go racing,” he said. “Obviously it's not easy fighting for two, the constructors' championship and the drivers' championship, with two very evenly matched drivers, but ultimately that's a problem that we knew we were going to have.
“At the end of the day I think there's a lot of good things that come from that. Yes, there's difficult moments and tension at times, but I think both Lando and I have become better drivers from pushing each other to the limit.
“Sometimes that's been uncomfortable for everyone, but I think ultimately it's been a good thing.
“We've obviously had a lot of discussions through the year and I'm sure we'll have discussions in the off-season about anything we want to do slightly differently for next year, but at the end of the day they gave us both as good of a chance as the team could have to fairly fight for a world championship and that's all you can ask for.”
Piastri was therefore still quite upbeat following the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix because he knows it’s been a good season for him, having closed a points deficit that stood at 82 to Norris last year.
“Definitely I can be very, very proud of the season I've had,” added the 24-year-old, who led the championship between April and October this year. “When I look at this season compared to my first two years in F1, this year has been head and shoulders above the first two.
“Ultimately, whilst the end result is not quite what I wanted, I think there's a lot of optimism and a lot of strength that I've gained from proving to myself what I can achieve through this season and those are the kind of things that are not necessarily tied to results.
“So I think for me I can definitely take that forwards into the future and it's only my third attempt at this in F1. Hopefully I've got plenty more to go, but there's definitely lessons from this year that will only make me stronger for the years to come.”
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