Damon Hill has shared some advice for Oscar Piastri ahead of F1 2026, as well as identifying the Australian\u2019s key strength.<\/p>\n
Having been the favourite for the Drivers\u2019 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.<\/p>\n
Damon Hill shares advice for Oscar Piastri for F1 2026<\/p>\n
Want more PlanetF1.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google<\/a> to your favourites list for news you can trust.<\/p>\n Piastri\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n But that was as good as it got for Piastri, with Norris and Red Bull\u2019s Max Verstappen starting their comebacks against him at the very next race.<\/p>\n At Monza, a race controlled at the front by Verstappen, Piastri looked set to finish second before McLaren<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n From there, Piastri\u2019s 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\u2019s end, in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, did Piastri\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n In just his third season in F1, Piastri\u2019s 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\u2019s learned the hard way, according to 1996 F1 World Champion Damon Hill.<\/p>\n Speaking on the\u00a0Drive to Wynn\u00a0podcast, 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\u2019s end.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he probably felt the worst he was going to feel after Qatar, I think he could not believe what had happened there,\u201d he said, referring to McLaren\u2019s strategic fumble that handed Verstappen victory at the Losail Circuit.<\/p>\n \u201cHe had some misfortune, you have to say, and he\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n \u201cWow, that\u2019s quite a big thing to do, isn\u2019t it, to give points away to a guy you could be fighting for the world championship for?<\/p>\n \u201cHe will probably look at that and go, \u2018Well, maybe I won\u2019t do that again\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cNext year, if I were him, I\u2019d be coming back saying, \u2018Listen, I love the team, and it\u2019s been great, but I have to think of myself\u2019,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018It\u2019s 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?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018I can\u2019t afford to do that. I did it last year. That could have cost me the World Championship\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n More on Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri<\/p>\n F1 driver contracts: What is the contract status of every driver on the F1 2026 grid?<\/a><\/p>\n