Oscar Piatri leads the Formula 1 World Championship with a nine point ahead of his McLaren teammate Lando Norris and has realistic chances to win the title. The Australian won the Formula 3 championship in 2020 and the Formula 2 title in 2021. The 24-year-old feels in the Formula 1 title fight as in his time in the young series. But the duel with his teammate makes the 2025 season for him something very special.
Already in 2020 he fought against a teammate in Formula 3: Logan Sergeant from Team Prema. The dynamics are different in the youth series than in Formula 1.
In the junior series, the drivers usually have to pay for their cockpits, while they are on the salary list in Formula 1 and earn a lot of money with racing.
But what is the difference when it comes to winning the Formula 1 title? Formula 3 was about to deliver clean races; In contrast, tire management already played an important role in Formula 2.
Formula 1 is a completely different level. Nevertheless, Piatri sees many parallels to his previous title fights.
The differences and parallels
“It actually feels quite similar to the championships in which I have started in the past,” said the youngster. “The biggest difference is that for the first time I have to fight for the title so hard against a teammate.”
“I drove against Logan Sergeant in Formula 3, but there are fewer hurdles in front of Formula 1. There are no pit stops, no strategy. You just go out and try to beat each other and to finish your goal in front of your teammate.”
“In Formula 1, the strategy then has larger hurdles,” he explains. “There are so many different things that can influence the result. So there is a different dynamic. Therefore, other things are more important: be at the front before the pit stops and take risks at the right time or not.”
Formula 1 a level higher
According to Piatri, this makes the difference, which also proves mentally as a big task. “In the end, the position to secure the title is a similar one,” clarifies the Australian. “I know that what has worked in the past was different in every championship. There is not just one way to try it.”
“In the position in which we are, we cannot simply score points. I have to beat everyone, because we often fight for places one and two on many weekends,” continued Piatri. “If you become more second, you will get good points, but one wins. And if he wins all races, it is also constant.”
In the young classes, he often looked at the larger number of races per weekend, which points would be enough to keep a good position in the overall ranking. This only works to a limited extent in Formula 1. “There is less the attraction to calculate, because there is only one race at the weekend. There are two in the young series, in Formula 2 even three per weekend.”
In Formula 1 you always have to be up
“You can calculate a cut, but just because it worked, it doesn’t have to mean that it works again. We look at races. It sounds boring, but it is the truth,” clarifies the McLaren pilot. “You can’t take care of what happens in Abu Dhabi when it takes the focus from the current race weekend – especially at the top of Formula 1.”
According to Piatri, it is fundamental to do its best in every race, to be fully concentrated and to get the maximum out in the present. “It is a cliché to concentrate fully on the current race, because we try to get the largest number of points.”