Piastri: A lot of confidence in ourselves to keep momentum going

Speaking to the media during the F1 76 LIVE event in London on Tuesday, Piastri said: "I'm sure the preparation for both of us has been preparing for a World Championship fight and I think it would be naive of us to go into the season preparing for anything less.

"I think that's always the way you want to prepare things, but we're never going to know what our competition is like until Melbourne.

"That obviously dictates a lot of your performance for the season. I think, like Lando said, we're going with the confidence of the results and the Constructors' Championship we achieved last season, so I think that's definitely our aim.

"And I think we've shown in the last two years, but especially the last 18 months, that we've been able to turn our car around and make it the strongest on the grid.

"I think we've got a lot of confidence in ourselves that we can keep that momentum going. Whether we are fighting for a championship or not depends a little bit on what everyone else brings to the table as well, but certainly the preparation from everyone, including us as drivers, is going for World Championships again," declared the 23-year-old Australian.

If ever a driver set the benchmark for tackling a rookie season, Piastri did so with aplomb. His debut in 2023 demonstrated not only raw speed but an ability to learn quickly from mistakes.

Piastri became a Grand Prix winner in 2024 and now fancies his chances of taking the fight to McLaren teammate Lando Norris in pursuit of the 2025 title.