Photo: McLaren

Piastri shrugs off 'works team' debate after Barcelona testing results

21:01, 08 Feb

byTobia Elia

Oscar Piastri does not believe more established teams will necessarily have an advantage over the rest of the grid at the start of the new regulatory era.

“All our teething problems we had in the test were not to do with not being a works team”

- Oscar Piastri

Speaking to GPblog among other media, the Australian acknowledged that works teams may have benefited from having more time to develop their respective projects, but he does not believe that is the reason why Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes looked strong straight away during the Barcelona test.

“I think being a works team obviously has its advantages, especially now, given that there is development again on the engine side of things, but we've obviously got a very close relationship with Mercedes HPP, which is very beneficial to us.

“All our teething problems we had in the test were not to do with not being a works team. So I don't think there's necessarily a disadvantage. We may be a little bit behind in what you said — they've had years to really integrate these rules into their car — but we've been in that process for a long time as well, so I don't think it's necessarily a disadvantage."

He finally concluded: “I think it's more going to be about who was able to capitalise in the last 12 months on kind of the aero testing and just getting things organised.”

Photo: McLaren

Horner backs 'motivated' Piastri to bounce back after tough end to 2025

The former Red Bull CEO and team principal has voiced his confidence in the Australian ahead of next season, despite the recent title defeat to his team-mate and Max Verstappen.

“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,” he said while appearing on Today.

Read the full story here.