Piastri’s growing confidence: “I enjoy being the hunted”

Oozing confidence after a dominant weekend in Barcelona, Oscar Piastri enters the Canadian Grand Prix chasing a fresh run of back-to-back victories, unbothered by his growing list of accolades and relishing his role as the “hunted”.

Looking to kick off another streak of consecutive wins in 2025, Piastri arrives in Montreal at the top of his game after a near-flawless three days in Barcelona.

The Australian secured his seventh Grand Prix victory two weeks ago, putting together a dominant performance that even his teammate Lando Norris couldn’t match, taking to the podium for an eighth consecutive time.

This weekend, the Australian will be aiming to extend his podium streak while improving his record at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, where he’s scored points on just one of two visits.

“I enjoy being the hunted,” Piastri said.

“I’ve said it before — it means you’re normally doing something right if you’re in that spot so I’m enjoying it.

“I think the season has obviously gone very well so far, you know, I think Spain was a great example of that.

“Try and continue the success and momentum from there, I guess. 

“I think this weekend should be good for us hopefully, but I think the competition will be tight.

“It’s a track that tests everything — it’s basically a street circuit, it’s very bumpy, the weathers often at play — so there’s a lot of variables that can spice things up so I think we’ll have some competition from a few teams around us.”

The hottest battle on track and in the standings, however, belongs to the two McLaren drivers of Piastri and Norris.

Lando Norris’ win in Monaco brought the Brit within three points on his less-experienced teammate’s championship lead, however, a bounce-back effort from Piastri in Spain has given the Australian a little more breathing room.

Heading to Canada, Piastri has built a 10-point buffer over Norris, while Max Verstappen’s late Spanish meltdown and subsequent penalty has temporarily eased both McLaren drivers’ nerves.

In an added advantage to McLaren, Verstappen now finds himself in a risky position, being just one penalty point away from a one-race ban as he trails the #81’s championship lead by 49 points.

“I think Lando is the main opponent, yes, but I’m not going to rule out Max,” Piastri said.

“You know, the gap is obviously a bit bigger now, but it’s not unsurmountable by any stretch of the imagination so let’s see.

“We’re going to keep pushing to try and make our car even faster and make myself even faster, but yeah, I think the main opponent, let’s say, is Lando.”

Expectedly, the championship battle is Piastri’s sole focus in 2025, with the additional stats and records — placing him alongside legends like Ayrton Senna and Lewis Hamilton — merely a blip on the Australian’s radar as his tunnel vision narrows on WDC glory.

“I mean, I mostly blank them out, I know exactly why I’m here — to try and win a world championship,” the #81 said.

“And I think all the other stats that go along with that, you know, the consecutive podiums and stuff — yeah, okay, they’re cool, but the coolest one by far is putting myself in the list of world champions.

“So that’s really, I guess, the only one I’m concerned about.

“Some of them are quite fun, I guess, to listen to but yeah, they don’t mean much, they don’t give me any extra points unfortunately.

“So yeah, just trying to execute every weekend as best as we can and yeah, create some cooler stats at the end of the year.”

The first order of business, however, is FP1, with the first hour of practice around the unique Circuit Gilles Villeneuve kicking off at 03:30 AEST on Saturday morning, followed by FP2 at a more bearable 07:00 AEST.

Image: McLaren

2025 Canadian Grand Prix Schedule (AEST):

Saturday, June 14th:

FP1: 03:30 – 04:30

FP2: 07:00 – 08:00

Sunday, June 15th:

FP3: 02:30 – 03:30

Qualifying: 06:00 – 07:00

Monday, June 16th:

Race: 04:00

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