Christian Horner makes bold Oscar Piastri prediction after 'falling apart'

Christian Horner believes the "hurt" Oscar Piastri is carrying after his 2025 title collapse will "fully motivate" him for the coming season. 

Following the Dutch GP in 2025, Piastri led Lando Norris by 34 points and Max Verstappen by 104, but a false start and first lap crash in Azerbaijan triggered a collapse in form. 

Between Azerbaijan and Las Vegas, Piastri posted a DNF, a fourth, a trio of fifth places, and then a disqualification in Las Vegas as he also crashed out of the United States and Sao Paulo Sprints. 

This meant he fell to third in the standings behind team-mate Lando Norris and a resurgent Max Verstappen, with the Australian ultimately finishing third, just 13 points behind Norris and 11 behind Verstappen. 

It was Piastri's third season in F1 and first challenge for the world title, but with McLaren expected to once again be in the hunt for wins in F1's new rules era, Horner believes the experience will stand Piastri in good stead.

"Oscar will have learned a huge amount from last year," Horner told Australia's Today programme ahead of his speaking tour down under.

"I thought he was odds-on favourite going into the [2025] summer break, and unfortunately, it sort of fell apart for him at the end of the season.

"But he will learn from that, and it will have hurt him and ultimately motivated him.

"You forget that the guy's only done a couple of seasons in Formula 1, he's relatively inexperienced, and I think he's just going to get better and better, and he's going to be fully motivated for the season ahead."