Oscar Piastri qualified third for the title-deciding 2025 F1 Abu Dhabi GP, a mere 0.029s behind his McLaren team-mate Lando Norris in P2 – but nearly two-and-a-half tenths back from a dominant Max Verstappen pole position at the all-important final round of the season.
The Australian missed the opening practice session at Abu Dhabi, as Pato O’Ward completed the final of four mandatory rookie outings for FP1 sessions for McLaren. That left Piastri with a bit of catching up to do throughout the rest of the weekend, as he trailed Norris by nearly six tenths come the end of FP2.
Even up until final practice, things weren’t looking much better for the driver who held the championship lead for over half of the season, as he still trailed his title rivals and looked to be on the backfoot by a few tenths at least.
First “good lap” of the weekend came at “the right time”
By qualifying, the McLaren F1 driver managed to regain his confidence, and put a storming lap at the end of Q1 to go nearly half-a-second quicker than Norris, last year’s polesitter at the Abu Dhabi GP.
Although he couldn’t keep that advantage heading into the crucial Q3 session, Piastri was “pretty happy” to have found his groove at the right time at the F1 Abu Dhabi GP, but admitted he just “didn’t have an answer” to Verstappen’s storming pace:
“I think overall, [I’m] pretty happy,” he said. “I feel like Q1 was the first lap that was actually good for the weekend, which was was nice to have it at the right time.
“And then I think the laps in Q3 were pretty good as well. You know, the tiny little margins that you always have on a qualifying lap were probably there, but I didn’t have an answer for Max [Verstappen’s] pace today.
“So ultimately, pretty happy. Would have loved a bit more, but we didn’t have it.”
Long runs could have “gone a bit better” at the F1 Abu Dhabi GP, admits Oscar Piastri
With the points situation, Piastri will necessarily need to finish higher than where he starts on the grid to have any hopes of clinching an unlikely first F1 world title.
And for that he will need some strong race pace in his McLaren MCL39, which he believes was “not spectacular” from what he saw in Friday practice, and admitted he would’ve “loved” for it to have gone a bit better overall:
“Difficult to know [the race pace]. I’ve not done that much long running, obviously on the FP2, but it looked OK without being anything spectacular.
“So, yeah, I would have loved the long runs to have gone a bit better. But we’re here now and we’ll see how the conditions and the tracks evolved.”
McLaren team orders will be discussed pre-race
Heading into the weekend, McLaren’s CEO Zak Brown softned the team’s stance regarding team orders, which have been scarcely used this year in order to ensure a fair fight between the two drivers.
Now, with a championship on the line, Brown admitted the team will resource to team orders on Sunday if necessary.
When asked about it, Piastri acknowledged that the topic will be discussed before the race, as it “makes a lot of sense” to have all scenarios mapped out ahead of the title decider – but admitted he doesn’t yet know “what exactly is expected” from him:
“I don’t know what exactly is expected of me yet,” he said. “Until either Lando [Norris] or Max [Verstappen] cross the line in front of me, I’ve still got a chance of winning the title.
“So, yeah, we’ll see how the race pans out.
“I’m sure we will talk about it, yes. I think it makes a lot of sense to talk about that one before the race.”
“More than enough” respect between team-mates to acknowledge each other’s potential title win
Regardless of the outcome on Sunday, if Max Verstappen fails to win the title, there will be a situation in which one of the McLaren drivers will be celebrating his first F1 world championship, whilst the other rues what could’ve been.
But Piastri believes both drivers are mature enough to not need any kind of discussions on how one might or might not celebrate such an important moment in their lives.
“I don’t think you need to have any discussions about things like that,” he said. “You know, one of us could win our first championship in F1.
“You’re obviously going to celebrate that. I think we’ve got more than enough respect between each other to, you know, appreciate the work of the person that loses tomorrow.
“There’s going to be nothing but respect either way. So I think also whoever’s on the losing side, it would be unfair [for them] to expect the person who’s won to not celebrate.
“So I don’t think you need any conversations. I think we’re adults and got enough respect between us to know what’s right.”
