Piastri takes drastically different approach in battle with Verstappen

Oscar Piastri will be competing in his third Formula 1 season when the lights go out at his home Grand Prix in Melbourne next month. After two extremely promising seasons that have seen the 23-year-old grow as a driver, his third year at McLaren could be one that sees him challenging, and potentially winning, the World Championship.

In just his second season behind the wheel of an F1 car, Piastri took two victories with an extremely competitive McLaren, showing his raw pace and talent in the premier class of motorsport. There is an expectation that the papaya-coloured team will be back battling at the front of the grid, and the Australian will be looking to profit off of that.

Of course, trying to challenge and defeat Max Verstappen will be far from easy, so Piastri has made a drastic change during the off-season, appointing a new Performance Coach, with the Australian hoping to optimise his training programme, making him better equipped to enter the F1 season successfully.

"I've been in F1 for a couple of years now, so I'm starting to understand better what parts of my body I need to train more and what things I need to work on," Piastri explained on McLaren's website.

According to Piastri, the winter months without F1 with his new coach have been enjoyable: "It’s been quite fun getting used to some different things. Otherwise, it’s just improving on my general level of fitness, keeping my muscular level of fitness going and trying to prepare my neck.”

Piastri is currently in the UK with his new trainer, taking the final steps before the 2025 season gets underway. Later this month, the 'F1 75' livery event will take place at the O2 Arena in London, with all the cars for the new season being unveiled in front of thousands of fans. After that, Piastri and McLaren will then travel to Bahrain for the start of pre-season testing.

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