Oscar Piastri has ruled out adopting a cautious approach in his push for the 2025 Formula 1 world title. Despite recognising subtle adjustments to his style while battling for the championship, the McLaren driver insists that the season is still too young to focus on damage limitation.
The Australian has scored points in every race so far and holds a narrow nine-point advantage over team-mate Lando Norris. With the standings so close, Piastri believes easing off could cost him valuable ground in the drivers’ standings.
McLaren’s “papaya rules” policy, which Piastri says boils down to one simple instruction — avoid contact with your team-mate — continues to give both drivers freedom to race. He notes that while the primary target of winning the constructors’ championship remains, the lack of strict team orders has slightly altered the dynamic for 2025.
Early Season Demands Maximum Effort
“I think there’s definitely been some changes. Even still now it’s too early to kind of just bank points and finish races for the sake of finishing races,” Piastri said of his own approach.
“You still need to try and put your best foot forward and score points. Obviously now in the driver’s championship it’s very much a two-horse race, so there is kind of some one-on-one racing in some ways, which is probably a little bit of a change from what we’ve done previously.
“But a lot of what we’ve done previously has been to try and win constructors’ championships, and get the team the most points. When you’re fighting for first and second, you’re still getting the same amount of points.
“So there’s probably a few changes with that, but a lot of the rules of engagement and the general philosophy of how we go racing is still very much the same.”
Focus on Each Race, Not the Finale
When asked whether he looks at the championship as a whole or focuses on individual weekends, Piastri made it clear that the “race-by-race” approach is the most effective. “I think the saying of ‘taking it race by race’, it sounds boring and kind of is boring in some ways, but it is very true,” the Australian explained.
“You can’t worry about what’s going to happen in Abu Dhabi and take your focus off what you’re doing in the weekend, especially at the top of Formula 1. You’ve got to be on top of your game every single time and any focus you take away from that, it means you’re not at the top of your game.”
For Piastri, settling for second place when there’s an opportunity to win is “not a great way of going racing.” With the 2025 F1 championship wide open, he plans to keep attacking at full pace each weekend.
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