Oscar Piastri is brimming with assurance that he can contend for the 2025 drivers' championship.
While Lando Norris, the current points leader, is widely seen as McLaren's spearhead, it was Piastri who stood out most prominently at the recent Chinese Grand Prix.
Norris contends that "only Ferrari" boasts a driver pairing as evenly matched in skill, though he notes that teams with a dominant figure like Red Bull's Max Verstappen sometimes benefit from a teammate not splitting the drivers' points. "Our system will always win out in the end," said Norris, "even against the best driver in the field."
Team principal Andrea Stella concurs: "Lando and Oscar feed off each other and get more out of themselves than if they were driving in isolation."
Reports suggest Piastri's manager, Mark Webber, expertly secured a contract ensuring equal top status, which sometimes complicates McLaren's famed 'Papaya rules.'
The 23-year-old Piastri recently committed to a long-term extension, despite prior interest from Red Bull. In the latest Drive To Survive series, Christian Horner didn't hesitate to name "Oscar" when asked which McLaren driver he'd select.
"For me, other teams were never even really a consideration," Piastri told The Times in a new interview. "McLaren, firstly from a car perspective, but also just a team environment perspective, is where I want to be. A lot of people would want to be here.
"I'm confident I can win with this team."
But can he rise above Norris? "If I wasn't confident in that, then maybe I wouldn't have signed this long contract."
McLaren, however, does risk revisiting its history of teammate friction—think Fernando Alonso versus Lewis Hamilton, or Ayrton Senna versus Alain Prost. "I'm aware that a conflict could arise if we're not careful," McLaren CEO Zak Brown told Auto Motor und Sport. "A lot depends on the personalities of the drivers. We're lucky that we have two lions in the cage, but they get along well with each other."
Brown aims to avoid a Senna-Prost repeat in particular, stressing "transparency" as vital for managing disputes or doubts. "That's why we always involve our drivers in our marketing activities, play golf together, go to dinner together in the evening," he added.
Fresh off his latest victory, the pragmatic Australian heads to Japan trailing not just championship leader Norris but also Verstappen and George Russell. "I enjoy being in that position of expectation," he insists. "I'm certainly not in the sport just to make up the numbers.
"I am here because I want to become a world champion. Over the last couple of seasons, I have proven to myself, more than anyone, that I've got what it takes. I don't think that I'm at the peak of what I'm capable of, but I'm trying my absolute best to get there as quickly as possible.
"I know when I have my best weekends, they're good enough to beat the very best."
