MADRID, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Oscar Piastri led Formula One by a healthy margin this time last year but now, with his title dreams effectively over for another season, the Australian says he is doing all he can to give himself the best shot at a championship challenge in 2027.
That means winning at least one race to help rescue a disappointing year after the highs of 2025 and, with leaders Mercedes disappearing over the horizon, helping champions McLaren beat Ferrari to second place in the constructors' standings.
The 25-year-old was 31 points clear of British teammate Lando Norris, the eventual champion, at the top after the September 7 Italian Grand Prix last year and had won seven of 16 races.
Piastri left Monza this year still without a win to his credit after 13 rounds and 151 points behind Mercedes' championship leader Kimi Antonelli but fifth in that race and feeling he had taken "a much better step in the right direction.
"Of course, I would love to win a race or two this year, or more if I can," he told Reuters at the Spanish Grand Prix.
"But for me, honestly, the biggest thing, the end goal is to try and win championships. And if I can't do that this year, then I want to make sure I'm as best prepared as I can for next year."
REASONABLE CHANCE OF BEATING FERRARI
Piastri's best result in the first season of the sport's new engine and rules era has been second place behind Antonelli in Japan last March, while teammate Lando Norris has won twice.
The Australian started the season with two 'did not starts', including one at home in Melbourne.
"Never say never but it is going to be incredibly challenging for the championship," said the Australian with typical deadpan understatement.
"(We're) trying to do the best we can in the constructors' championship because, whilst I think beating Mercedes is going to be tricky, I think we do have a reasonable chance of trying to beat Ferrari. Just trying to win races if we can and learn as much as we can for next year."
Ferrari are currently second, 59 points ahead of McLaren. Mercedes are 122 further in front.
Piastri's 2025 season nose-dived from a point where he seemed destined to take the title to being overtaken by Norris and then Red Bull's Max Verstappen, ending up third overall.
His most recent win was the Dutch Grand Prix in August last year.
The Australian denied that the knock-on effects of that campaign, and the mental toll of coming to terms with the crown slipping through his hands in what might even have been the opportunity of a lifetime, had seeped over into 2026.
"It's all to do with technically driving the car. There's nothing to do with a hangover from last year ... it's very much a technical thing," he said.
"It's not like I'm slow, feeling sorry for myself or thinking about last year. It's just that a few of the weekends I've had to drive the car in a different way that just hasn't really worked for me.
"The biggest thing this year has been the cars are very different to drive, both from a power unit point of view but also the car itself is fundamentally very different and the tyres also. There's just been a lot of challenges around that and how you extract performance out of the car.
"You've got to drive it very differently and I would say it's not necessarily in the way that I would choose to drive a race car.So there's just been some struggles getting to grips with that."
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin; Editing by Ken Ferris)
