F1 star Oscar Piastri has his say on McLaren’s form following testing in Bahrain ahead of the Melbourne opener

Aussie star driver Oscar Piastri is bullish in confidence heading into his home race after a ‘faultless’ pre-season testing with the 2025 challenger, while experts declare McLaren atop the pecking order.

Oscar Piastri has declared McLaren will head into the opening race of the season at the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix in “decent shape” after what he described as the almost “faultless” running of the team’s 2025 challenger during pre-season testing.

Ahead of the biggest race of the year for the homegrown hero, Piastri was buoyed by a productive three days of testing in Bahrain as the Melbourne-born driver aimed to improve on his fourth place finish in last year’s race at Albert Park.

Piastri finished the final day of testing in fourth position on the timesheets with the team’s fastest outright time of the week after his 85 laps behind the wheel in the last session.

Sky Sports F1 pundit Ted Kravitz has selected McLaren at the top of his pecking order ahead of the season-opening race in Melbourne following the three days of pre-season testing over Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull.

Oscar Piastri says the pre-season running of the 2025 car has been faultless. Picture: Clive Rose/Getty Images

The two-time Grand Prix winner suggested he would head to his home race in Melbourne with plenty of confidence after the encouraging test.

“That’s testing done. I think it was a productive three days,” Piastri said.

“We tried a lot of things and learnt a lot. Some things felt quite good, others still need improvement but working through this is exactly what testing it for.

“The car ran pretty much faultlessly, which is a good place to be starting from.

“We’ve got a lot to review before Melbourne, but I think we’re going into it in decent shape.”

McLaren will be aiming to defend their team’s championship in 2025 after breaking a 25-year drought to win the constructors title last season, while Piastri and his teammate Lando Norris will be hoping to thrust themselves into contention for the drivers’ crown.

Piastri finished fourth in the drivers’ standings last year, while Norris was runner-up to Red Bull’s four-time world champion Max Verstappen.

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said the testing in Bahrain has been productive for the team, which had a lot of analysis ahead of the opening round.

Piastri wants to win at home. Picture: Clive Rose/Getty Images

“We completed our aero tests …. before giving both Lando and Oscar a chance for some runs to allow them to gain insight into the capabilities of the car before we head to Australia,” Stella said after the final day of testing.

“We also took the opportunity to make some further set-up changes as we continue to learn about the characteristics of the MCL39.

“The team here and in Woking have done a great job of bringing our new car to the track and allowing us to maximise all of the time available to us this week. We have plenty to analyse and work on before the first race of the season.”

Meanwhile, Piastri’s fellow Australian Jack Doohan said he would head into the opening race of his first full season as a Formula 1 driver with confidence after completing his first pre-season test.

Jack Doohan is confident heading into the first race of the season. Picture: Clive Rose/Getty Images

“We had three smooth days with no issues and the car ran well all week, which meant we could achieve plenty of laps and plenty of mileage,” said Doohan, who finished the final day of testing in 12th position on the timesheets after his 61 laps.

“We collected a lot of great data and, on a personal side, I took on some useful knowledge to apply in Australia for the first race.

“Conditions have been mixed all week but that’s good to put us all through our paces.

“I am going into Melbourne with confidence. There is much more to come and we’ll aim to keep working hard and keep progressing as a team.”