Damon Hill has shared some advice for Oscar Piastri ahead of F1 2026, as well as identifying the Australian’s key strength.

Having been the favourite for the Drivers’ World Championship title at the end of the European season in 2025, a drop-off in consistency from Piastri saw him wind up third at the championship finale.

Damon Hill shares advice for Oscar Piastri for F1 2026

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Piastri’s final win of the F1 2025 season came at the Dutch Grand Prix, extending his championship lead over McLaren teammate Lando Norris to 34 points with nine rounds remaining.

But that was as good as it got for Piastri, with Norris and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen starting their comebacks against him at the very next race.

At Monza, a race controlled at the front by Verstappen, Piastri looked set to finish second before McLaren intervened. A slow pitstop for Norris had resulted in Piastri ending up ahead of the British driver, and, due to it being a team error, Piastri was requested to release Norris back into second place.

While Piastri questioned this request, he acquiesced and gave up valuable points to his teammate, a scenario Verstappen openly laughed at on team radio after being told of the McLaren position switch.

From there, Piastri’s championship bid foundered as he crashed out in Azerbaijan before a spate of races in which he failed to make a significant impression. Only towards the season’s end, in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, did Piastri’s form rebound to a similar level as he had shown for the first two-thirds of the season, but it was too late to prevent defeat in the championship to both of his rivals.

In just his third season in F1, Piastri’s efforts may have been admirable and showed clear improvement year-on-year, but the lesson learned from playing nicely with his team, to his own detriment in terms of championship position, is one he’s learned the hard way, according to 1996 F1 World Champion Damon Hill.

Speaking on the Drive to Wynn podcast, hosted by Justin Bell (son of former F1 driver Derek), Hill said Piastri will have had to learn to cope with some strong feelings of disappointment towards season’s end.

“I think he probably felt the worst he was going to feel after Qatar, I think he could not believe what had happened there,” he said, referring to McLaren’s strategic fumble that handed Verstappen victory at the Losail Circuit.

“He had some misfortune, you have to say, and he’s lost out because of some decisions with McLaren, trying to be fair. For example, Lando had a bad pit stop at Monza, and he was asked to give the place back.

“Wow, that’s quite a big thing to do, isn’t it, to give points away to a guy you could be fighting for the world championship for?

“He will probably look at that and go, ‘Well, maybe I won’t do that again’.”

According to Hill, Piastri should come back with a more selfish attitude for the new season and not give up an opportunity as he did in 2025 again.

“Next year, if I were him, I’d be coming back saying, ‘Listen, I love the team, and it’s been great, but I have to think of myself’,” he said.

“‘It’s my career. If the situation arises and you ask me to return points to my teammate, you have to ask yourself, why would I do that?’

“‘I can’t afford to do that. I did it last year. That could have cost me the World Championship’.”

But while Piastri may have been too nice for his own good when it came to individual glory, Hill pointed out that there is a key area in which he has a clear advantage over Norris.

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Verstappen, as the driver against whom others are currently compared, was capably handled by Piastri in wheel-to-wheel battle during 2025, such as at the Miami Grand Prix, when the Australian confidently set up a pass on the four-time F1 World Champion.

This was in stark contrast to Norris’ attempts to pass Verstappen shortly afterwards. Having been just two seconds behind Piastri when the duo closed on Verstappen, Norris took several attempts to overtake the Dutch driver and, in the process, lost a significant amount of time to Piastri as the gap ballooned up to nine seconds.

Examples of this decisiveness in battle, with Piastri proving a willingness to take risks in wheel-to-wheel combat throughout the season, have set him up strongly for future battles with Verstappen, believes Hill.

“I think Max recognises that Oscar will not hesitate, won’t think twice,” he said.

“He arrives, and then he’s attacked; he just goes straight in there. That’s one of his highest skills, I think, that ability to be an aggressive and decisive overtake.

“Do you remember what happened in Saudi Arabia when they both started biffing each other, and Max took to the escape road and then played silly buggers, by not giving the place back or whatever?

“I don’t think Oscar’s particularly intimidated by that. And so I think there’s a little bit more respect.

“Lando can be a little bit more circumspect and wary of Max, and Max knows that.”

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