The primary weekend of the 2025 Method 1 season resulted in heartbreak for Oscar Piastri. The hometown favourite was operating second within the Australian Grand Prix, however a slide into the grass throughout wet circumstances late within the race knocked him out of rivalry for a podium. Whereas Piastri managed to get again on observe and salvage a end within the factors, it was not how he needed to start his 2025 marketing campaign in entrance of his dwelling followers.
Piastri rebounded with a “satisfying,” and “full,” victory within the Chinese language Grand Prix.
Piastri captured pole place and led wire-to-wire, taking the win in entrance of teammate Lando Norris to present McLaren their fiftieth one-two end result of their storied F1 historical past. The defending Constructors’ Champions are off to an incredible begin in 2025, with Norris profitable in Australia and now Piastri taking the victory in Shanghai.
‘Yeah, very satisfying,” started Piastri within the FIA Press Convention. “Clearly, I believe, you understand, it’s at all times a reasonably good day if you cross the road first, that’s apparent. However I believe for me this has been probably the most satisfying, not simply race, however weekend for myself.
“You recognize, I believe the 2 wins I had beforehand had been very totally different, and I believe this one’s been probably the most full. So I’m very, very pleased with the entire effort of the entire staff this weekend,” added the Australian driver. “I believe we began with a automobile that was fast, however fairly difficult at instances, and I believe we did a great job of attempting to deal with that. And to come back away with this end result is an ideal finish to the weekend.”
Whereas many anticipated the excessive ranges of tire degradation would require drivers to implement a two-stop technique, Piastri was among the many many within the high ten who made a one-stop race work. Piastri began on the medium compound, and after switching to the hards ran the ultimate 42 laps of the race on that set of tires for the win.
The Australian driver admitted he was “pleasantly shocked” that the laborious compound fared in addition to it did.
“I believe already on the Medium it was simpler than within the Dash, however I believe the Onerous behaved significantly better than all of us anticipated. I believe George might need a distinct reply on that, however definitely for me, I went into it considering it will be a two-stop after which even early within the race I nonetheless thought that, and was pleasantly shocked that the Onerous was as sturdy because it was,” described Piastri.
Nonetheless, earlier than the race started there was each expectation that the Chinese language Grand Prix could be a two-stop affair, primarily based on what we noticed within the F1 Dash race. What we additionally noticed in that 19-lap scrap was that Lewis Hamilton was capable of keep away from the extreme tire degradation by beginning in pole place, sustaining P1, and operating in clear air.
Piastri admitted that he needed to carry onto P1 after the beginning for that very motive.
“I imply, I used to be very pleased to come back via Flip 1 within the lead. I’d have been fairly irritated if I wasn’t,” started Piastri.
“In order that was fairly essential for the primary a part of the race, particularly provided that we didn’t actually know if it was going to be a one- or a two-stop at that time,” added the McLaren driver. “And the way crucial having the ability to dictate the tempo regarded yesterday within the Dash—I used to be clearly pleased to maintain the lead.”
He additionally outlined that he has been comfy all weekend lengthy.
“I believe this weekend’s been perhaps much less emotional than the primary two wins I’ve had, however undoubtedly extra satisfying,” stated Piastri.
“I believe it’s been a weekend the place I’ve been fairly comfy, been assured in what I wanted to do and the way I’ve been driving. And I believe the race at the moment was … I nonetheless needed to push and maintain my foot on the fuel, as a result of the hole, aside from the previous few laps, was by no means that large behind,” he added. “So I at all times needed to carry on my toes, however I really feel like I simply managed the race properly once I wanted to, and pushed once I wanted to.
“So yeah, simply very pleased with how the entire weekend’s turned out.”