‘I’ve learned a lot about myself’ – Piastri reveals lessons from title battle that will ‘only make me stronger’

Oscar Piastri believes that the lessons he took from engaging in a tense title battle will help him become a better driver in the future, despite losing out in the season finale to his McLaren team mate Lando Norris.

Norris became the 11th Briton to become World Champion after he finished third at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which was enough for him to secure the title by two points over Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

However, it was Piastri who led the standings for the majority of the year. At one stage, he held an advantage of 34 points over his team mate, but a downturn in performance in later rounds culminated in him dropping to third, finishing 13 points behind Norris.

The pair both achieved seven wins, leaving the Australian keen to focus on how much he has improved in just three seasons, and identify how to continue that development to pursue his maiden championship.

Speaking after the season finale, he said: “I think, obviously, I would have wished for a slightly different ending, but I think this year I’ve learned a hell of a lot about myself as a race car driver, myself as a person.

“I think if you had presented this season at the start of the year with the pole positions and the wins and the podiums, I definitely would have been pretty happy with that.

“And I think even in the tough moments, I’ve learned a lot about myself and how I can be stronger in the future.

“So, I think, ultimately, there’s a little bit of disappointment, obviously, but I think I can be very proud of the season I’ve had and plenty of lessons to take to the future.”

After claiming his first win at the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix, Piastri quickly settled into being a title contender in the opening half of this season, taking six victories before the summer break as McLaren became the team to beat.

However, he went on to suffer a run of six rounds without standing on the podium, including a rare crash in Azerbaijan and a tough disqualification for both him and Norris in Las Vegas, which allowed both the Briton and Verstappen to leapfrog Piastri in the standings.

He bounced back with a near-perfect weekend in Qatar, before a misjudged strategy call saw him lose out on another win to the Red Bull driver. But ending the year on a relative high with second place in Abu Dhabi helped him focus on taking the positives from the rollercoaster season.

“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,” he said. “Ultimately, whilst the end result is not quite what I wanted, 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.

“Those are the kinds of things that are not necessarily tied to results. So I think for me, I can definitely take that forward into the future. It’s only my third attempt at this in F1. Hopefully, I’ve got plenty more to go, but there are definitely lessons from this year that will only make me stronger.

“There’ve definitely been lessons directly to do with how I drive the car, how I can be better in different conditions, and just become a better all-round driver. There have also been lessons outside the car – dealing with adversity, dealing with difficult moments.

“I’ve learned a lot about myself in those kinds of things. So, there have been lessons both in and out of the car that will definitely help me for the future.”