Piastri holding “a lot of confidence” in championship fight

After outscoring his teammate during a wet and wild Belgian Grand Prix Sprint weekend, Oscar Piastri says he has “a lot of confidence in myself” to win this year’s world championship, as he turns his focus to the Hungaroring, the scene of his maiden taste of success in Formula 1.

12 months on from the “slightly awkward situation” that was Piastri’s first Grand Prix victory, the sport returns to Budapest for the Hungarian Grand Prix, putting behind a damp weekend at Spa in hopes of a more straightforward outing this weekend. 

Smashing the lap record around the Circuit de Spa Francorchamps to secure Sprint pole for the 15-lap dash, Piastri was unable to hold onto his lead position when Max Verstappen, gambling with a low-downforce set-up, charged by at Les Combes to solidify a second-place finish for the Australian within a matter of five corners.

On the bright side, however, Piastri was able to extend his championship lead over Lando Norris by one point — a tally that he added an additional seven points to in Sunday’s main event after clearing his pole-sitting teammate as they approached the Kemmel Straight on the opening lap to ultimately take victory in Belgium.

As a result, the 24-year-old now sits on 266 points in the Drivers’ Championship, increasing the buffer over Norris to 16 points, while the Red Bull driver drops further out of contention on 185 points.

Let down by the car underneath him, Verstappen’s absence from the title fight has forced Piastri to acknowledge the obvious: the battle for 2025 glory is now a straight shootout between the two McLaren teammates.

“Every weekend now, or the last few weekends anyway, it has been Lando and I,” the #81 said.

“I expect our competition to still be strong and put up a good fight, especially at certain tracks through the rest of the year. 

“Whether that comes from Max or Ferrari or Mercedes or someone else, we never really know. 

“I’m not too concerned about what happens in that. 

“I’m just trying to win each race and extend the lead. 

“Clearly, Lando and I are in the same car, which is the best, and he’s naturally going to be the close competition.”

But despite the threat posed by his more experienced teammate, the Australian remains self-assured in his ability to carry this momentum through to the second half of the season as he plans to ratify his championship dreams come December.

“I have a lot of confidence in myself that I can do it,” Piastri said. 

“Not every weekend has been perfect, but there’s not many weekends in my whole life that have been perfect. 

“Just trying to put together a solid, consistent year is ultimately going to be important. 

“The pace in the last few weekends, especially Spa, I’ve been very confident in and very proud of. 

“I’m more than capable of continuing that for the rest of the year. 

“I’m confident that I can do it, but it’s not going to be easy.”

Taking a moment this weekend to reflect on how far he’s come, the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix marked the first time Oscar Piastri’s name was etched onto the list of Formula 1 Grand Prix winners; a breakthrough victory for the then-23-year-old, though one that was quickly overshadowed by intra-team tensions and the birth of the now-infamous ‘papaya rules’.

Seeing the weekend where his teammate came close to ignoring McLaren’s repeated instructions to give the position back to the #81 as a learning curve, Piastri said last year’s event “underlined the good nature in the team”. 

“It was obviously a slightly awkward situation, but it highlighted that we will do the right thing in all circumstances when we’re on track,” he added.

“It showed the trust that we have with the team and with each other as well, and that things will be put the right way.”

Focusing on his chances of scoring back-to-back victories in Hungary, the expectation is that McLaren will, once again, hold position as the leading constructor, though the Australian was wary not to rule out any surprises.

“Hungary has been historically a good track for us as a team, certainly the two years I’ve been with the team,” Piastri said. 

“I expect us to be strong again this weekend, but there have been tracks this year where we thought we would be very strong compared to our competition and they were closer than we thought. 

“And there have been other tracks where we thought our competition would be very close, and actually the gap was bigger than we thought. 

“So, you never know, but I expect us to still be at the front.”

Piastri acknowledged that success this season isn’t just about being the quickest driver in the quickest car anymore, pointing to human error as a key deciding factor in the championship fight.

That element was on full display last week at the Belgian Grand Prix, where Norris made three separate errors during his bid for victory — mistakes at the likes of La Source and Pouhon that directly cost him the opportunity to challenge Piastri in the race’s final moments.

“The way you win races at the back end of the season is the same way as at the start,” the championship leader said. 

“You need to be faster than everyone around you, and you need to make the least mistakes possible. 

“That aspect doesn’t really change. 

“Like I said, it’s great to be consistent, but if you’re consistently being beaten, that’s not a recipe for a championship. 

“It’s a balancing act of both. 

“Obviously, if you’re a robot, you’d be able to be as fast as possible and make zero mistakes, but we’re all humans, so that’s not possible. 

“There is going to be an element of minimising mistakes, but you need to be fast at the same time, and you can’t afford to sit back. 

“If you try to take that approach, you’ll end up being beaten.”

Offering teams the best chance to shake off any cobwebs at the Hungaroring, this weekend’s schedule returns to a conventional format, featuring three practice sessions ahead of Qualifying and the 70-lap race.

The first hour of practice will kick off tonight at 21:30 AEST, followed by FP2 at 01:00 AEST on Saturday morning.

Image: Formula 1

2025 Hungarian Grand Prix Schedule:

Friday, August 01:

Free Practice 1: 21:30 – 22:30

Saturday, August 02:

Free Practice 2: 01:00 – 02:00

Free Practice 3: 20:30 – 21:30

Sunday, August 03: 

Qualifying: 00:00 – 01:00

Race: 23:00

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