Oscar Piastri appeared cool-headed after missing out on the 2025 Drivers’ Championship to his team mate Lando Norris, hailing McLaren for their efforts in turning around his performance over the last two rounds.<\/p>\n
The 24-year-old and Norris<\/a> both achieved seven victories this season, but a downturn in form for Piastri<\/a> in the latter stage of the year saw him lose his commanding lead in the Standings<\/a> and drop behind both the Briton and Red Bull\u2019s Max Verstappen.<\/p>\n Piastri headed into the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix<\/a> with mixed emotions, having seen his dominant weekend in Qatar fall away from him due to an unsuccessful team strategy. Nevertheless, he maintained his rediscovered form to qualify third for the finale, behind his fellow title contenders on the front row.<\/p>\n With a 16-point deficit to overcome in order to win the championship, he recognised that a lot had to fall into place for him to have a chance. A strong start saw him pass Norris for P2 on the opening lap, but he couldn\u2019t do much to get the better of Verstappen<\/a>, especially on a 41-lap stint on hard tyres.<\/p>\n Asked how he was feeling about finishing second in the race, he replied: \u201cHonestly, pretty good. I knew that going into today I needed the stars to align to win the championship.<\/p>\n \u201cUltimately, I tried my best and put myself in the best position I could to try and win the race and give myself the best opportunity, but it wasn\u2019t to be. I think we can be very proud of the season we\u2019ve had.<\/p>\n \u201cOn a personal level, it\u2019s obviously not quite the ending that I wished for but I think when you look at the season as a whole, I\u2019m very proud of the work that I\u2019ve been able to put in and my team have been able to put in to make so much progress from last year. I\u2019m looking forward to plenty more fights in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n