Oscar Piastri moving past ‘painful’ end to 2025 ahead of new F1 season after proving ‘what I can do’

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Oscar Piastri is determined not to dwell on his “painful” collapse in the 2025 title fight and build on his “proud moments” as he strives to respond during the 2026 F1 season.

The 2026 campaign is now only days away, with Piastri returning home to Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix. He had a disappointing start to the season on home soil last year after spinning in the rain whilst P2, before recovering to P9, but he built on it to fight for the title.

Piastri even led the F1 drivers’ championship in 2025 for more days than any of his rivals at 189, having topped the table from round five in Saudi Arabia until round 20 of 24 in Mexico City. But the 24-year-old failed to capitalise on his 34-point lead through the first 15 rounds.

McLaren teammate Lando Norris dethroned Piastri in Mexico, and he went on to win the F1 drivers’ title for the first time by just two points over Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. Piastri only outscored Norris through two of the final nine rounds last year, and Verstappen during zero.

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Oscar Piastri wants to build on his ‘proud moments’ from 2025 during the 2026 F1 season

The wheels fell off his wagon after McLaren told Piastri to hand P2 in the 2025 Italian Grand Prix back to Norris, having undercut his teammate who the team had assured would stay in front if he let the Australian stop first. Piastri adhered to his team’s request and finished P3.

READ MORE: McLaren driver Oscar Piastri’s life outside F1 from height to girlfriend

Also, Piastri crashed during qualifying and the race in Azerbaijan, caused a crash with Norris at the start of the Sprint at COTA and struggled on the low-grip tracks in Austin, Mexico, Sao Paulo and Las Vegas. But he does not now want to dwell on those moments entering 2026.

Piastri said, via quotes by Auto Action: “Last season didn’t end with the final result I wanted. It was nice to go into the off-season to reflect on last year as a whole.

“It was pretty easy to get drawn into that kind of ending. But when you take a step back and look at how good last year was for us, how strong the car was, how strong we were as a team and some of my individual performances, I was really proud of.

“When I take a step back and look at those races at the end of the year, yes, they were a little bit painful. But then I go back and look at the races that were really proud moments and I proved what I can do when I’m at the top of my game. That’s what I’m going to be building on.”

Oscar Piastri has the perfect mix of pain and pleasure from 2025 to fuel his 2026 campaign

While the 2025 F1 season finished disappointingly for Piastri, who ended up 13 points adrift of Norris in the drivers’ standings, he is right to think that there were plenty of moments for him to now build on in the new season entering 2026, as F1 also starts a new regulatory era.

Piastri scored his first career F1 pole position in China in 2025, which he also converted into a commanding win. He even won five of the opening nine Grand Prix last year and stood on the podium in eight of those races, plus in 14 of the first 16 rounds up to the race at Monza.

McLaren’s team orders at Monza, which ultimately helped Norris win the 2025 F1 title, then played on Piastri’s mind in Baku, where he also jumped the start of the race. His inability to adapt his driving style on low-grip tracks then helped Norris get the momentum he needed.

Now, Piastri has the experience of fighting for the title and being the champion-elect after a commanding first half of the season last year mixed with the feeling of it falling away due to a challenging conclusion to the campaign as he bids to come back stronger in the 2026 term.