After a commanding performance at Spa, Oscar Piastri reflects on title pressure, McLaren’s team harmony, and the flawless execution that will define his season at the Hungarian GP Press Conference
Twelve months ago, Oscar Piastri arrived at the Hungaroring as a rookie still searching for his first Grand Prix win. Now, he returns to the scene as the man leading the world championship . Being 81 points clear of Max Verstappen, and firmly locked in a title fight with teammate Lando Norris.
When Piastri was asked in Thursday’s Press Conference at the Hungarian GP, how he views the title fight. And it is a two-horse race between himself and Lando Norris, he said openly:
“I suppose so. Every weekend now, or the last few weekends anyway, it has been Lando and I. 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.”
Piastri continued, “Hungary has been historically a good track for us as a team, certainly the two years I’ve been with the team. 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.”
Free to Race
McLaren has let its drivers race. That’s been clear from the first round. But beneath the mutual respect, there’s tension. With the papaya car currently at the top of its class, it has been all to play for. Espically at the Hungarian GP.
When asked whether McLaren had looked to the Senna-Prost rivalry for lessons, Piastri was firm.
“Not necessarily. Everybody knows the history of Senna and Prost and that rivalry, and other rivalries outside of McLaren.
“You don’t really need an example to set the culture that we have at the moment. We’re both very conscious that we want this opportunity of having the car and the team in this position for many years to come.
“The best way we can help as drivers, apart from driving fast, is by giving the team good morale and good confidence and making it a good team environment. That’s very important for us this year and going forward.
“We’ve all seen how it can go wrong. But we have a lot of reasons to push for it to not go wrong.”
Last Season, at the Hungarian GP, Norris undercut Piastri, but allowed Piastri to drive through for the Aussie to win his first race. When asked about this in the press conference, and how this impacted their relationship as teammates. Piastri was open about the experience and said:
“I think it 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.
“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.”
Piastri’s determination to win
As the season has passed the halfway mark, the pressure between Norris and Piastri has heated up to win their first World Championship titles respectively.
When Piastri was asked in the press conference if he feels confident about winning the title, Piastri understood that consistency and being the fastest driver have to go hand in hand, as he said:
“I have a lot of confidence in myself that I can do it.
“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.”
Consistency and mistakes
Piastri continued on further about being consistent and making the fewest mistakes, and how it allows someone to win the World Driver Championship.
“You can make an argument for either one, you can be consistent, but if you’re consistently coming second, that’s not very useful. You need to have both.
“At the level of the field and the level of my teammate, you need to bring your best. Inevitably, when you’re pushing that hard, there are going to be mistakes here and there because it doesn’t come without risk.
“You can’t afford to take things easy and try and be consistent. You need to push and you need to be quick.
“Of course, you try and execute as best as you can, but you need both to win the championship. You can’t just rely on one.”
“The way you win races at the back end of the season is the same way as at the start. 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 minimizing 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.”
Sprint Races
In Formula 1 every point counts, including those on offer in the Sprint races. But Piastri remains wary of the high-risk, low-reward nature of the infamous Sprint races, as he said:
“I still don’t think they count as a real win, but yes, they are important. In the position that we’re in as a team, there’s often a lot more to lose in a sprint than there is to gain, because each position is one point.
“You don’t really get rewarded for doing an amazing job in a Sprint event, but you get a pretty big penalty if it goes wrong. That’s just what you have to deal with.”
Still, he’s not approaching sprints any differently.
“Obviously, any points you can get, whether it’s one point, two points, they will help. You just try and approach it like normal and try and do the best you can.”
Hungary, Then and Now
The Hungarian GP marks the anniversary of Piastri’s first win — and the true start of his status as a title contender. A year on, what has changed for the Aussie?
When asked about this transformation, Piastri believed it was multiple tiny improvements that have given him this opportunity.
“Developing a little bit in a lot of areas. Last year, I felt like I had some weekends that were very strong and felt like I had enough to win races on my good days. But there were a lot of average and sometimes bad days in between.
“This year has been full of a lot more good days. I have improved as a driver, but I think I’ve been able to get closer to what I think I’m capable of more often. That’s been the biggest thing. It’s not come from one specific area.
“It’s come from looking at lots of different things. Being able to execute what I think is my best more and more often, that’s been the difference.”
Safety vs Spectacle
The Spa weekend also brought renewed debate over the FIA and it’s policies, but Piastri doesn’t mince his words about the situation, as he said:
“I think Pierre summed it up very well. In the last few years, we’ve been giving our feedback to the FIA about what we think is acceptable and what’s not.
“It is always much worse in the car than it looks on TV, and I think the FIA has done a very good job of listening to us and taking that feedback on board. We asked for them to be, if anything, on the conservative side.
“You could argue that we were, but we would much rather that than the opposite. The feeling in this room would be pretty different if we had a big crash last week.
“We’ll work with the FIA and fine-tune that, but I think we’re on the right side of cautious.”
Oscar on Hungaroring facilities
The Hungarian GP has undergone some massive changes, since the last time the F1 grid was there on the calendar, espcially wher Piastri won his maiden race.
When Piastri was asked what he makes of the new renovations such as the grandstand, pitbuilding, along with the new garages, he was only thinking about the fans experience, as he said:
“I’ve not seen much apart from where we’re sat now, but it looks really nice from the outside. As long as it gives fans a better experience, then that’s great. It’s impressive that it’s been done from one year to the next. It looks like it’s been quite a big task, so well done.”
