Piastri to follow 'Verstappen example' in F1 title race

Oscar Piastri is determined to follow Max Verstappen's lead in capitalising on a dominant car early as he tries to win his first F1 world title.

Piastri comfortably won the Chinese Grand Prix, following on from team-mate Lando Norris' triumph in Australia seven days earlier, with the MCL39 widely regarded as the fastest car in F1.

Ferrari, Mercedes, and especially Red Bull, are all off the pace of the McLaren, and with the focus set to switch to the 2026 designs sooner rather than later, the Woking squad could be on course to win both championships for the first time since 1998. 

Both Piastri and Norris are seeking a maiden F1 title, with the Australian hoping to follow in Verstappen's footsteps from last season of racking up wins whilst armed with the dominant car before rivals could potentially catch up.

Verstappen won seven of the first 10 races in 2024 whilst his RB20 was competitive, before rivals, including McLaren, overhauled the team. The Dutch driver won only two of the final 14 rounds.

"I think it's very, very early, clearly, but I think no matter how short or long the championship is, you need to maximise the car that you have every race," Piastri told media including RacingNews365. 

"I think we saw last year that Verstappen was able to win the championship by capitalising on the car he had in the first part of the year.

"Obviously, he did a good job through the rest of the year as well, but he built the gap when he had the ability to do so. 

"That's an important thing at the moment as well, because you never know when someone’s going to find some speed with an upgrade or find something in how they operate the car. 

"There are pretty fine margins out there, so you want to capitalise whenever you can, but I’m certainly not thinking about the championship yet.

"As much of a cliché as it is, it’s a cliché for a reason, and I’m focusing on one weekend at a time because ultimately that is how you win a championship: by getting the most out of every weekend."