Oscar Piastri opens up about friendships between drivers. The Australian explains how it is personally difficult for him to form ‘real friendships’ with his fellow drivers, because ‘you compete against him 24 times a year on the circuit’. The McLaren driver also briefly reflects on his title chances in the coming years: ‘I firmly believe that you have to make the best of what you have’.
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Oscar Piastri competed in the title fight for the first time in 2025. The Australian fell just 13 World Championship points short of eventual champion and teammate Lando Norris in Abu Dhabi. However, Piastri remains confident that he will add his name to the list of world champions in the coming years. “I want to become Formula 1 world champion, but I try to look at it from a very realistic perspective,” Piastri explains in the High Performance Racing podcast.
“Winning a title (editor’s note) is a combination of factors,” he continues. “I have to do my job well. But in this sport, whether you like it or not: if you don’t have the car to achieve it, you can keep believing that you will become F1 world champion, but that doesn’t help. That’s what it comes down to for me. That feeling of realism. I firmly believe that you have to make the best of what you have.”
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Friendships between drivers
If Piastri indeed has a dominant car again, he will once again have to compete with his McLaren teammate. According to the Australian, this also makes it difficult to form ‘real’ friendships in the paddock. “In Formula 1 there is enormous respect between the drivers. But having respect for each other and being friends are two different things. For me, it is always difficult to be truly friends with someone you have to go on track with 24 times a year to essentially prove that you are better than him, or to compete against him.”
According to the driver, it is therefore easier to be friends with drivers from other racing categories. “We can empathize well with each other because we are both drivers, both doing the same work in different racing categories, so there is plenty to talk about,” Piastri explains. “But there is no longer that awkward situation where you say: ‘Oh, well, I really want to talk to you about this, but if I talk to you about it, will you get ideas on how to beat me next time?’ and things like that. So it’s quite difficult.”
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