{"id":333559,"date":"2025-12-07T21:22:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T21:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/333559\/"},"modified":"2025-12-07T21:22:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T21:22:08","slug":"oscar-piastri-interview-after-abu-dhabi-grand-prix-losing-drivers-championship-lando-norris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/333559\/","title":{"rendered":"Oscar Piastri interview after Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, losing drivers\u2019 championship, Lando Norris"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oscar Piastri said he expects \u201cfull fairness\u201d from McLaren moving forward despite Lando Norris winning the drivers\u2019 championship after finishing third in Monday\u2019s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fox Sports, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every practice, qualifying session and race in the 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship\u2122 LIVE in 4K. New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

The McLaren duo jostled for the title and for much of the year the calm and collected Piastri appeared to hold the upper hand.<\/p>\n

Nothing seemed to faze the Australian, and a three-win streak in Bahrain, Jeddah and Miami suggested the title was his to lose.<\/p>\n

The weight of expectation as \u2018champion-in-waiting\u2019, however, then appeared to play mind games in Piastri\u2019s head while the intra-team title battle threatened to get toxic at various points. <\/p>\n

Externally, there were accusations of McLaren favouring Norris and the decision to ask Piastri to hand a position back to his McLaren teammate at Monza after a slow pitstop only intensified the conspiracy theories.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It also proved the difference in Norris being crowned champion given he finished just two points ahead of Max Verstappen.<\/p>\n

Without the three points he gained from the swap from Piastri, Norris would have fallen short. <\/p>\n

Either way, even with Norris now the defending champion, Piastri said he does not expect the dynamic between himself and the Brit to change next season.<\/p>\n

READ MORE<\/p>\n

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\u2018Giving me a stupid grin\u2019: Max snaps at reporter as forgotten act thrust back into spotlight<\/a><\/p>\n

Reaction: McLaren boss called out for tone-deaf message in \u2018horrible\u2019 Piastri moment<\/a><\/p>\n

Verstappen snaps back at reporter | 00:49<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I don\u2019t think so, I don\u2019t think that will change anything,\u201d the Australian told reporters after the final race of the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me he\u2019s obviously had a great season this year and a deserving champion, but he\u2019s still Lando Norris \u2014 it\u2019s not like he\u2019s become Superman.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I don\u2019t think things will change with that. I\u2019m expecting, obviously, full fairness from the team and kind of equality going forward and I don\u2019t have any concerns that that will change at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut yeah, I think clearly Lando\u2019s had a very strong season this year and ultimately did a better job.\u201d<\/p>\n

‘Zak could’ve had a little more empathy’ | 01:26<\/p>\n

McLaren had already wrapped up their second successive constructors\u2019 title in Singapore but that feat was overshadowed as the friendly but feisty relationship between their two drivers boiled over, sparks flying on the streets of Singapore as the duelling duo collided wheel-to-wheel.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo are we cool with Lando just barging me out of the way there?\u201d Piastri complained.<\/p>\n

While Piastri conceded there was \u201ctension at times\u201d given the fact he was competing with Norris for the title, he added that it often brought out the best in both drivers. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a testament to the way we go racing,\u201d Piastri said.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously it\u2019s not easy fighting for two, the constructors\u2019 championship and the drivers\u2019 championship, with two very evenly-matched drivers, but ultimately that\u2019s a problem that we knew we were going to have.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s a lot of good things that come from that. <\/p>\n

\u201cYes, there\u2019s difficult moments and tension at times, but I think both Lando and I have become better drivers from pushing each other to the limit and sometimes that\u2019s been uncomfortable for everyone but I think ultimately it\u2019s been a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lando in tears after being crowned champ | 02:42<\/p>\n

Plus, even if it was \u201cnot quite the ending\u201d Piastri hoped for, the future is undoubtedly bright for the Australian given he is just 24 years old and already pushing for a world championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen 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,\u201d Piastri said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to plenty more fights in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oscar Piastri said he expects \u201cfull fairness\u201d from McLaren moving forward despite Lando Norris winning the drivers\u2019 championship…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":333560,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-333559","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-motosport","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-motor","11":"tag-motor-sports","12":"tag-motosport","13":"tag-motosports","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=333559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333559\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/333560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}