Formula 1 pilot Oscar Piatri has named his biggest opponent on the way to the desired World Cup title and also spoke about his own future in McLaren.
There were already three different winners in the first three races of the current Formula 1 season: Lando Norris (McLaren) in Australia, Oscar Piatri (McLaren) in China and most recently Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) in Japan, who missed a “warning shot” to the actually superior McLaren duo, like sport.de-Expert Felix Görner wrote in his column for the Grand Prix in Suzuka.
Verstappen warning shot or not, if it goes to Piatri, then the worst rival sits on the way to the desired World Cup title in their own racing team. When asked about the greatest opponent, the Australian in “Sport Bild” clearly said: “Lando (Norris)!”
When the magazine refer to why it is not four times and reigning world champion Verstappen, Piatri explained: “On the one hand, Norris, as a World Cup leader, is currently in fact the best cards on the title, on the other hand our car is the best of the formula 1.”
Pastri is not wrong with it. However, Norris’ lead (62 World Cup points) on Verstappen (61) is only one counter, Piatri has so far collected 49 points.
Formula 1: Piatri refers to McLaren’s comeback capabilities
However, this is far from a preliminary decision. Piatri almost never felt before in 2025.
“I am now in my third season and I have the feeling that I am finally there in a driving drive. In the first two years I had things that were not perfect. But you just have to be,” he said and named tire management. “I sometimes claimed them too much at the beginning of the race, so I got out of trouble at the back.”
It is not a big issue for the 24-year-old that he is also observed by other teams, such as Mercedes and Red Bull due to his good development and strong performance.
“This is of course flattering, but in the end I am not interested in it. I see my future at McLaren. That is why I recently extended my contract early beyond 2026,” he emphasized.
Also that the field will be thrown through the new rules from the coming year and that McLaren could lose the status as a top team, did not worry about his decision-making decision.
“No team knows how good it will be. I am confident that we will continue to ride in the front,” he said.
“The development we have gone through is incredible. At the beginning of 2023 we were last, now we are with the best car-and without a regular revolution. We now want to crown this trip with the win of both World Cup titles,” Piatri stated the direction.