Oscar Piastri heads into the final 10 races of the 2025 Formula 1 season with a nine point advantage over McLaren team mate Lando Norris.
Had things gone his way at certain races, or perhaps more accurately not gone the way of Norris, he could have been sitting on a much more substantial lead.
The most recent example was in Budapest, where as the chasing car Norris had the option of an alternative strategy – one that allowed him to secure victory, a result that created a 14-point swing in his favour.
Having done the difficult bit and been in front in the early stages Piastri could be forgiven for feeling a little bit miffed.
Hungary wasn’t the only time that events that were essentially out of his control conspired against Piastri and favoured his team mate. However, he denies that he feels hard done by in any way.
“No, I don’t,” he says. “I think there’s always going to be things in racing that you don’t necessarily agree with or don’t go the way you want. And that’s just part of it. Sometimes it makes you wonder why you picked this damn sport! But no, I think certainly don’t feel hard done by
“I think we’ve done a lot of things well that we can control this year. There’s been some tough moments, some tough lessons.
“But I’m very confident with the position that I’m in. I feel like I’ve driven well this year, and again all the things I can control, I feel like I’ve controlled very well. There is an opposite universe where a lot of things look very different, but none of that matters.
“So I’m just trying to focus on these next 10 races, and how I can perform either the same or, if not even better, than I did at the start of the year.”
For both Norris and Piastri the intensity of being in the spotlight of a World Championship fight is a new experience, although both have been battling for and indeed winning titles from their karting days and into the junior single-seater categories.
It’s also important to have a good team around you, and thanks to manager Mark Webber Piastri can absorb advice from someone who went through it himself back in 2010.
“The intensity will kind of naturally increase as we get close to the end of the year,” says Piastri. “And I’m ready for that. I’ve been in that position before and in other championships, and that kind of feeling and that countdown to the end of the year, that is the same. So I’m ready for that.
“And yes, I can lean on Mark. Ultimately, it’s down to how I manage it, how I drive, how I cope with the things that are going to be coming. But having an important team around you and a good group of people around you is very important to be able to lean on. So Mark is certainly one of those people. And yeah, I’m excited to see how it goes.”
You don’t have to be a sports psychologist to appreciate that Piastri’s outwardly calm demeanour contrasts with the heart-on-the-sleeve approach of Norris.
However, it would probably be a bit simplistic to suggest that the former will pay dividends as we get closer to the end of the season, and the title battle reaches its climax.
Indeed Piastri concedes that it’s not that straightforward, and there’s more going on below the surface.
“I definitely do get nervous,” he says. “Yes, I think before every race, nerves are there. Firstly, I don’t believe anyone that says they don’t get nervous, because I don’t think that’s possible. And I think it would be a bit weird if you weren’t nervous. So they are definitely there.
“I think it’s just how you how you manage it, how you try and channel it in the right ways. Because I think ultimately, the nerves can be good or bad, and it’s how you manage it that decides that. I think for me, being calm is just part of who I am, but definitely I’ve learned through the years that that’s how I get the most out of myself as well, and that doesn’t look the same for everybody.
“So it’s not a magic thing, but that’s how I feel like I work best. It’s kind of partly natural and partly through experience and through learning. It’s just how I am in some ways, and how I try and get the best out of myself.”
Meanwhile what unfolded in Budapest, and the possibility of future similar scenarios, has been the subject of debate in Woking.
“Yeah, we’ve spoken about it since then,” says Piastri. “I think ultimately there are race situations where being the second car from the team on track, or you don’t even have to be the second car from your team, it’s just being the kind of last car in the train, or the last car in the group, you’ve got a lot less to lose.
“So that kind of aspect is always going to be there. And I think it would be unfair to neutralise that just because of wanting to be on the same strategy. There were discussions about whether there was anything we could have done differently for myself, which were very productive discussions.
“I think we’re still going to be free to pick alternative strategies if that’s what we want. But yes, there were definitely some discussions about how we can tackle that, because it’s obviously a difficult thing to try and cover different strategies, especially when you’re in the position we are in the championship.”
Adam Cooper F1 