Piastri calls on McLaren not to interfere in title battle: 'This year is very different'

For the current F1 season, qualifying seems to be more important than in recent years, however title contender Oscar Piastri calls on McLaren, to keep treatment on him and teammate and rival to the title, Lando Norris, equal.

During the winter the hard work Piastri put into stepping up his qualifying performance, has paid off, with the Australian driver managing to outqualify his teammate in 3 out of the 5 qualifying sessions - one of them a sprint shootout in China - that have been held this year. A game changer?

"Qualifying is incredibly important. I think regardless of the kind of intra-team dynamics with pit stop preferences and whatever that causes, just the power of clean air is so important. So I think regardless of that, you always want to be qualifying at the front," says Piastri in the paddock in Jeddah ahead of the F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix race weekend.

In terms of the championship battle Piastri is currently waging against teammate Norris, qualifying ahead of his British teammate is essential, but 'it's not everything'. "With two drivers in the same car, I think with very similar pace. Whenever you can be ahead it's a pretty major advantage. So it is going to be important to have good qualifying [sessions]. But we've seen in the past that it's not always everything."

'McLaren's implementation of upgrades can curb F1 title battle'

Qualifying ahead of his teammate may come down to nailing a lap, but also down to which driver gets the upgrades first, responding to a question put forward by GPblog in terms of how McLaren's development programme may affect the title battle, as it played a role last year with Norris usually getting the upgrades firs, Piastri answers.

"I think this year the situation is very very different. I think last year, especially at the beginning of the season, we were incredibly keen to get whatever performance we could onto the car as quickly as possible. And we needed to make up a points deficit in the Constructors' Championship especially."

But in 2025, McLaren started the season as the benchmark, Piastri notes. "This year we're in a very different position, obviously we have already a decent gap in the Constructors' Championship and both of us fighting for the Drivers' Championship, so I think it's expected that we'll both have an equal opportunity and the same car to be able to fight for the Drivers' Championship."

For McLaren the most important goal in recent years has ever been winning the Constructors', following an approach similar to that of Ferrari. With the Woking-based team already having a comfortable lead ahead of the other constructors, Piastri then makes a request to his team.

"I think when we have the opportunity to keep it equal and have the same car every weekend we should do that."

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