Oscar Piastri insists he is ready to win the F1 drivers’ championship after addressing weaknesses and returning more confident for the season ahead.

The Australian will embark on his third F1 campaign in 2025, but after falling short of Lando Norris last term, he went into the winter knowing he had ground to make up.

Despite the pair carrying McLaren to a first constructors’ crown in 26 years, the 23-year-old was unable to match his team-mate’s level of performance and consistency, particularly in qualifying.

Norris took the first four grand prix victories of his career as he came agonisingly close to mounting a serious title challenge to eventual champion Max Verstappen.

Meanwhile, Piastri, who claimed his first two grand prix wins in F1, ended the year 82 points adrift of Norris. Nonetheless, he maintains the pair are heading into the new season on an equal footing.

“Definitely, we are starting on a clean slate,” Piastri told media including RacingNews365. “I do think that I can become world champion this year.

“I feel like 12 months ago, I was going into the season still with some weaknesses that I wasn’t particularly confident with.

“Through last season, I addressed them. It’s now just about addressing them every weekend and making sure that I’m putting my best foot forward every weekend – and that’s what is going to be the difference.

“So, I’m confident. I think we’ve still got some things to work on, and I’m definitely not the finished product, but I don’t think anyone necessarily is.

“If we can work on some of the things that we’ve set out to do in this off season, then I’ll have a lot of tools to be able to try and make that happen.”

Piastri: ‘Everyone is starting on zero again’

Whilst consigned to playing auxiliary support during the run-in last term, Piastri was keen to highlight the reset clock at McLaren – and across the entire F1 grid.

The 2021 F2 and 2020 FIA F3 champion also made sure to underline how the co-operation within the Woking team worked both ways over the final rounds of the previous campaign.

“Everyone is starting on zero [points] again,” Piastri pointed out. “Last season, towards the end, it was natural [to play a back-up role to Norris].

“I still had the opportunities to go out and put my best foot forward. Yes, there were a couple of situations where I ended up helping out Lando, but there were some where he still helped me out, so it wasn’t as clear cut as that.”