{"id":443320,"date":"2025-03-12T20:08:18","date_gmt":"2025-03-12T21:08:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=443320"},"modified":"2025-03-12T22:11:14","modified_gmt":"2025-03-12T22:11:14","slug":"piastri-promises-clean-slate-after-awkward-team-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=443320","title":{"rendered":"Piastri promises 'clean slate' after awkward team clash"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australian driver Oscar Piastri<\/a> has signed a mega Formula 1 deal covering many years to stay with the McLaren team<\/a> for the foreseeable future, announced just days before the season begins at Albert Park in Melbourne.<\/p>\n

It's a big call, just two years into his career, putting him among the likes of Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton and Ayrton Senna for the number of years spent with the team.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Wide World of Sports hours after announcing the new contract, the 23-year-old credited McLaren for giving him his start on the circuit and hopes to repay them in the coming years.<\/p>\n

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"I think the success we've had together already is definitely a big part of that – I want to be in a team that's going to be fighting for wins and championships," Piastri said.<\/p>\n

"I think we've already proven that as a team, but I think more than that, obviously, McLaren gave me my first chance to be a Formula 1 driver.<\/p>\n

\"Oscar<\/p>\n

"I think just the team that was being built kind of around myself and Lando (Norris) and the team that I'm a part of is just an incredible place to be."<\/p>\n

Turns out, that team spirit might even be more important than many would think.<\/p>\n

"I think even without the success, it would be a pretty easy decision," he continued.<\/p>\n

"But obviously, we all want to fight at the front of Formula 1, (I'm) very excited to be in papaya for many years to come."<\/p>\n

Extending his contract past 2026 also spans a new set of F1 regulations – so could this new deal be a sign of confidence in what McLaren has on the drawing board?<\/p>\n

"Definitely, you look forward into the future, especially on a long-term deal," Piastri said.<\/p>\n

"You obviously don't just look at where we are today. You look at what's coming in the works and I think for me a big part of the success has been down to the people and the team at McLaren, not finding a magic bullet here or something special there. "<\/p>\n

The team under Zak Brown is famously a "two No.1 drivers" line-up, where the team does not favour one driver over the other, which caused some angst among Piastri and his teammate Lando Norris in 2024.<\/p>\n

When asked how that will play out in 2025, Piastri was dismissive, but not in a covert way – it genuinely didn't seem to be something that bothered him.<\/p>\n

"I think going into the season where we're all starting on zero, all starting from a clean slate," the Melbourne-born star said.<\/p>\n

\"Oscar<\/p>\n

"I'm going to be trying my best to make sure that I'm in a great position later in the year and try and fight for a championship.<\/p>\n

"I think no matter which way it is it makes sense if one of us is doing better than the other to try and help out, especially if it's a tight battle at the front."<\/p>\n

Focusing on the task at hand in his home city, Piastri was cautious about what might be possible at Albert Park, but had some confidence for Aussie fans.<\/p>\n

"Obviously we don't know what anyone's got," he said.<\/p>\n

"We had a brief look into things at testing and I think we're looking good, but you never know what everyone's hiding at testing. This is a track that's been pretty kind to our car in the last couple of seasons, so hopefully that can continue this year.<\/p>\n

"But again we don't know what our competition's gonna be like, but I think we can expect to be somewhere near the front."<\/p>\n

F1 cars take to the track on Friday for practice, with the first round of the Formula 1 season gets underway with the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australian driver Oscar Piastri has signed a mega Formula 1 deal covering many years to stay with the McLaren team for the foreseeable future, announced […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":443322,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443320"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=443320"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443320\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":443325,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443320\/revisions\/443325"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/443322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=443320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=443320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=443320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}