Mika Hakkinen warns McLaren ‘cannot have two world champions’ amid ‘fantastic’ Oscar Piastri praise

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Mika Hakkinen was full of praise for Oscar Piastri, but reminded McLaren that their two-driver strategy could put them in eventual jeopardy.

Oscar Piastri’s emergence as a top driver in Formula 1 has been nothing short of remarkable. Since his debut in 2023, Piastri has been consistently excellent.

Piastri’s rise meant that McLaren found themselves with two aces, as he and Lando Norris spent much of last season battling it out for the drivers’ championship.

In the end, some misfortune on Piastri’s end combined with some strong results for Norris led to the latter winning the championship, while Piastri had to settle for third place behind Max Verstappen.

Despite coming up short, Piastri managed to impress McLaren legend Mika Hakkinen, who wants to see the Australian go one step further this season.

READ MORE: McLaren shut ‘Netflix cameras’ out of their ‘difficult conversations’ with Oscar Piastri last year

Mika Hakkinen stunned at Oscar Piastri’s ‘beautiful driving’, questions mistakes from last season

Mika Hakkinen spoke to SpeedCafe in a recent interview, where he waxed lyrical about Oscar Piastri. The former McLaren driver had nothing but kind words for the Australian’s driving.

However, he did question the mistakes from Piastri’s end that led to his title challenge collapsing late in the 2025 season, and reminded him and McLaren that there is only room for one person at the top of the F1 mountain.

“First of all, Oscar is a great personality. A great guy. Really down to earth. Great talent. Great car control. He can really control the car really well.”

“I’m all the time a little bit struggling here to put my words in a correct way – because Oscar, his driving was extremely beautiful. No question about it. Very consistent indeed.”

“Something happened last year, and Oscar can only answer this what happened. Why these mistakes started coming, and he was not able to maximise his full performance?”

“You cannot have two world champions in the team. There can be only one world champion. Lando was winning a world championship. And Oscar, constantly, my mind said what a great driver. What a fantastic driver.”

How quickly will Oscar Piastri adapt to Formula 1’s new regulations in 2026?

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READ MORE: F1 fans choose who they think will win the 2026 title with Lando Norris receiving just 4% of votes

Hakkinen backs Oscar Piastri to learn from mistakes and develop into championship driver

Even with his fall off at the tail end of last season, Oscar Piastri is destined for great things in Mika Hakkinen’s eyes, as he backs him to grow in the years to come.

“Oscar is still a young man and starting his career in Formula 1. So he will develop. He will get stronger. And that’s what I see what’s going to happen with him. He’s going to do a great job in the future.”

Even though he has been very successful since joining McLaren, Piastri only has two seasons’ worth of experience, so naturally, there is a lot of room for him to grow.

Zak Brown praised Piastri’s growth in communication recently, noting the strides he’s made since his debut.

The 2026 season could be the year Oscar Piastri contends for the drivers’ championship if all things go well. But the results have to come consistently if he wants to reach the throne.