<figure id="attachment_3275815" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3275815" style="width: 1600px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-3275815 size-full" src="https://media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/dc85b981-afp__20251128__86hw487__v1__midres__autoprixf1qatsprintqualifying_cropped_1.webp" alt="" width="1600" height="1000" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3275815" class="wp-caption-text">McLaren&#8217;s driver Oscar Piastri had looked forward to watching Australia&#8217;s triumphant Ashes cricket defence as a small consolation after leaving Abu Dhabi. (AFP pic)</figcaption></figure>
WOKING: Oscar Piastri accepts McLaren gave him a &#8220;fair shot&#8221; at the Formula One title last season and expects the same this year against champion teammate Lando Norris.
The Australian led the standings for much of 2025 but ended up third overall, with Norris beating Red Bull&#8217;s four-times world champion Max Verstappen by two points.
Piastri and Norris finished with the same number of wins, seven each, to Verstappen&#8217;s eight.
&#8220;I think I got a fair shot last year and I&#8217;m expecting that to stay exactly the same,&#8221; Piastri told reporters at a McLaren media event at the Woking factory.
&#8220;That&#8217;s definitely not to say that certain things could not have been done better last year. I think that was probably clear for everyone watching but for me at no point were there any bad intentions or any times I questioned the intentions of things.
&#8220;Things could have been done better, situations could have been handled differently, but that is part of elite sport and part of Formula One,&#8221; he said.
McLaren gave equal treatment to their drivers last year, although there were controversies involving the application of the team&#8217;s so-called &#8216;Papaya Rules&#8217;.
One involved the Australian letting Norris past after a botched pitstop by the team at Monza.
Formula One is starting a new era this season with major changes to the engines and aerodynamics in the biggest technical shakeup in decades.
That makes the pecking order little more than guesswork at present, with teams having conducted only a shakedown test behind closed doors in Barcelona last week before two official pre-season tests in Bahrain this month.
The first race is in Melbourne, Piastri&#8217;s home town, on March 8 and the Australian hoped for better than last year where he spun off and finished ninth.
&#8220;Hopefully, it goes a bit better than last year,&#8221; said Piastri, who returned to Australia after the season-ending Abu Dhabi race.
&#8220;That would be nice but it&#8217;s going to be such an unknown for everybody that at this point (I&#8217;m) just trying to maximise the time I&#8217;ve got in Bahrain, testing and trying to hit the ground running.
&#8220;But I think the amount of support I gained over the last 12 months, especially in Australia, it&#8217;s going to be nice to be back racing at home,&#8221; he said.
Piastri had looked forward to watching Australia&#8217;s triumphant Ashes cricket defence as some small consolation when he left Abu Dhabi.
The driver said he had missed out there too.
&#8220;I went and saw the one game that England won. That was karma,&#8221; he said.

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