Piastri looks forward to battles with Verstappen and Hamilton: 'Special'

Oscar Piastri is behind the scenes with McLaren in full preparation for the new season. The talented Australian already feels at home with his new team and expects to have a great year ahead, he told GPblog and others.

An important year dawns for McLaren. The formation hopes to compete for wins before the end of 2025, but it still has some steps to take before that. With the arrival of Piastri, alongside the excellent performing Lando Norris, it aims to raise the level further.

"I've been very impressed with how the team welcomed me as well," Piastri stated about his first period within the team. "It's just been a very seamless introduction to the team. So that's been really good. I'm encouraged by the projects that we've got lined up."

"We've got the new sim coming online soon-ish which I'm looking forward to getting my hands on. And also with the wind tunnel coming online hopefully later in the year as well. So I think there's a lot of positive stuff going on and everyone in the team has been great in welcoming me."

Piastri on racing against childhood heroes

It is the first season in Formula 1 for the 21-year-old driver, where he will be racing against great drivers like Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. Piastri finds it special to go up against such opponents, although he feels he should focus mainly on his own performance.

"I think working alongside Fernando for part of last year was an eye-opening experience," said Piastri, who was a reserve driver with the Spaniard at Alpine. "It's obviously with someone that I watched growing up. I think Lewis is also another one. So I've watched his success throughout my junior career."

"It's gonna be pretty special to go up against guys like that. As a racing driver, it's going to be, once the helmet goes on, everyone else is just another drive, but definitely, it's gonna be pretty cool to race against some of these childhood heroes."