Oscar Piastri believes McLaren could be at “the start of something special” and he wants to make sure he capitalizes with a championship attempt in 2025.
McLaren won Formula 1’s constructors’ championship for the first time in a quarter of a century last season, holding off Ferrari in a close battle. Lando Norris finished second to Max Verstappen in the drivers’ championship as the team became stronger as the year went on, and Piastri believes he is going to have a chance of fighting for the drivers’ title over the coming 12 months.
“I sure hope so,” Piastri told SiriusXM. “I think [2024] has been a great improvement personally. Also for the team it has been a massive step forward.
“For me, I know I’ve still got some room to go and things to improve, but I think I’ve made a lot of big steps this year and I’m just excited to try and work on my opportunities in the off-season and go again next year, because I really feel like this could be the start of something special. So I’ll make sure I’m ready for the challenge.”
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While Piastri will look to make a further step in his own development ahead of the start of the new campaign, he admits he didn’t expect to contribute to a constructors’ championship in just his second season in Formula 1.
“This success has obviously been from the result of a year’s hard work — or even longer than that, this journey that we’ve really turned around has been the result of two years’ work, and it’s a real pleasure to be part of this,” he said.
“I never would have dreamt that at this stage of my life and this stage of my career I would be in a world championship-winning team. So, very proud of everybody of what we’ve been able to achieve.”