Title aspirations depend on the classification

first in the classification with a margin of 16 points on his fellow Lando Norris and a serious title candidate. The first six races of this 2025 have said a lot about Oscar Piastri’s version “2.0” That, although it benefits from a car that until now has proven to be the grill reference, has shown an undoubted step forward compared to last season.

Only twelve months ago, in fact, after six races the Australian was sixth in the classification and, above all, with less than half of points than his partner Norris. Now, however, he leads the world championship.

At that start of 2024, some critical areas in which Piastri had to work, such as the classification and management of the tires, two aspects in which, of course, the experience plays a key role.

Time flies and Piastri now looks like an experienced pilotbut it is important to remember that 2025 represents only the third year of the Australian in Formula 1. in Bahrein, in fact, he played his 50th career in the highest category of motor racing and Piestri himself, before the start of the course, he admitted that he still had to improve in certain aspects if his goal was to fight for the title.

“The biggest problem was to leave too many positions in the classification. I think I have never made it easy in this aspect. That’s the season: trying to get the last hundredths, the last tenths,” he said at the end of last year.

Pastri’s decisive improvements are those of the classification

The dry return was one of the aspects in which the improvements had to be progressed, and the improvements have been evident. An aspect that cannot and should not overlook, because In a season in which it seems that the championship could become a challenge between two teammates, going in front is not only a competitive advantage directly, but also as for the strategy.

Excluding the sprints, Piastri has only come out twice off the front row, with a fourth place as their worst exit position. On the contrary, Norris has gone beyond the first row three times, one of them due to an accident in Yeda. Although the truth is that the British still has a little more in terms of pure speed, The regularity of the Australian is making a difference.

The numbers are clear, as can be seen in the upper table: after six large awards in 2024, the average classification difference was almost tenth and a half in favor of Norris, while this year, on the contrary, the figures throw a seven hundredth advantage for the Australian. Excluding Bahrain, where the British was difficult to find the feeling Suitable with the car, the comparison would be aligned with only one hundredth of difference, but still significantly less than in 2024.

“I think that the hard work we have done is making a difference. I feel more comfortable in classification and I have the feeling of having taken a step forward. Of course, I have still had a couple of classification sessions in which I have been out of the pole by a few hundredths, but I have also completed more positive sessions, so that There has been a lot of hard work on many fronts to try to win those last hundredths. I think he’s doing fruit, “Piastri said.

“There are still some things that we are trying to fix as a team with the car we have. It is clear that it is very fast, but it is not always easy to get all the potential,” he added.

The MCL39 has not proven to be the easiest car to extract the maximum performance in classification, and both PIASTRI and NORRIS have made some mistakes at critical moments, so Regularity is becoming the decisive factor in favor of the Australian.