Oscar Piastri explains treatment to 'painful' F1 ending

Oscar Piastri has revealed how he is using the pain of last season to drive him into the new F1 campaign that starts on home soil this weekend.

Piastri appeared favourite to become Australia's first F1 champion since 1980 when he emerged from the Dutch Grand Prix with a 34-point lead over McLaren team-mate Lando Norris after scoring his seventh victory of the year.

Over the remaining nine grands prix, however, Piastri failed to win another race. He only stepped onto the podium an additional three occasions as his title challenge faltered and he was overhauled by eventual champion Norris and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.

It was a crushing end to a year that promised so much yet failed to deliver what he had hoped for, leaving him to pick up the pieces during the closed season.

With F1's new era starting at Melbourne's Albert Park later this week, Piastri has conceded he is fuelled by what unfolded last year going into the new season.

"Obviously, I'm not here just to be known as a nice person or someone who goes about things in a way that people think is good. I'm here to try and become an F1 world champion.

"I'm very proud of the way I've gone about things. There are a lot of lessons from last year, and yes, the ending was a bit painful, which you can treat in one of two ways.

"You can either let it bring you down, or it can give you more confidence and motivation for the future. With such a different rule set [for this year] as well, that's been a very good avenue to channel any motivation that I gained over the off-season."

Piastri will at least be hoping there is no repeat of the culmination of last year's Australian Grand Prix, when he missed out on a podium.

Battling Norris for victory in difficult conditions, Piastri and the British driver both went off at the same point on the track. Norris managed to survive, but Piastri slid off onto the grass, where he almost beached his car as he tried to escape from the sodden conditions.

He eventually managed to escape from his predicament and finish ninth. It was a situation that played its part in the overall grand scheme of things, which cost him the title.

Assessing the return to his home event, with a smile, Piastri said: "Hopefully it goes a bit better than last year! That would be nice."

He added: "For me, the amount of support I've gained over the last 12 months, especially in Australia, it's going to be very nice to be back racing at home."