Chris Piastri shuts down accusations of bias from McLaren against his son Oscar

Oscar Piastri’s father says the young Australian’s championship ambitions are just beginning, hitting back at accusations McLaren favours his English teammate Lando Norris over him.

Oscar Piastri’s road to Formula One’s holy grail doesn’t end with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. He’s only just getting started.

Mature beyond his years, the 24-year-old from Melbourne doesn’t go around tooting his own horn but he’s got big plans. He wants to win multiple world titles, but knows he has to be patient.

To those that know Piastri best, that’s easier said than done. He’s been on such a fast trajectory that there’s no slowing him down.

PART ONE: CHRIS PIASTRI OPENS UP ON THE TITLE CHASE

Chris and Oscar Piastri. Picture: Supplied

In the second part of an exclusive interview with Code Sports from Abu Dhabi, Piastri’s father Chris revealed how his son was already plotting his future while everyone else was just trying to keep up with the present.

“When Oscar made it to F1, for me that was my sort of Mount Everest moment where I sort of signed off from the main game of the journey,” Chris said.

“But I realised pretty quickly for Oscar that signing with McLaren at the time and getting on the grid was just the base camp of Everest for him.

“His Mount Everest was obviously to win the championship.”

Piastri’s rise to the top of world motorsport has been as fast as it has been impressive. After leaving home and relocating to Britain in his teens, he’s already won the Formula Renault, F3 and F2 championships and made such a flying start to his F1 career that it’s often easy to forget 2025 was just his third season in the premier category.

“He’s already ticked off so many things so early in his career, first win, first pole position, a number of wins now,” his dad explained.

“But just as short as three or four years ago, it was all a dream.

“For me, the standout is just the way he’s remained so humble, the way he carries himself, the way he’s such the way he’s such an inspiration for young kids.

“We still sit at dinners and he’ll say ‘dad, I still can’t believe that I’ve got little kids coming up to me.

“Oscar’s also really patriotic. When he stands up there on the top step of the podium and that national anthem’s playing, it really means something to him.

“He really gets the whole idea that he’s not just representing himself or McLaren or whatever, it’s Australia. The other night, when he won the Don Award, he mentioned that as a country we have a history of punching above our weight.

“He really identifies with that and it gives it extra meaning and purpose.”

Could the politics of F1 hold Oscar Piastri back? Picture: Qian Jun/Xinhua via Getty Images

Millions of everyday Aussies have embraced Piastri like he’s their own son. They admire him as much for what he’s already done and trying to achieve as the calm way he goes about it all.

Australians worry about him too. They fear he could miss out on some of the sport’s biggest prizes because of F1 politics. Already, there are accusations McLaren are favouring Piastri’s teammate Lando Norris because he’s English.

Naturally stoic, Piastri hasn’t bought into any of the conspiracy theories and his old man agrees it doesn’t stand up to scrutiny, saying McLaren really do give both their drivers the same opportunities even though it doesn’t always seem that way.

“One of the problems with fairness is that you’ve got to draw a few lines in the sand,” said Chris, a computer and automotive businessman.

“And when you draw some lines in the sand it forces people to choose a side, you can’t just stand on both sides at the same time so I think the team has done their best.

“I also fully understand that Lando’s been with the team for eight years now and this is Oscar’s third.

“Formula One is not like tennis. It’s a team sport and the teams control everything. The drivers are employed by the team.

“There’s something to be said about the way the season has unfolded the way it has. You’re not gonna get it right every time and I’m sure it appears that they’ve gone against Oscar or whatever and maybe some of the decisions have been not in Oscar’s favour but there’s nothing there in the car or anything, that’s for sure.

“It’s not like they turned Oscar’s engine down or anything like that. We saw it in Qatar. I think most people who are supporting Lando were hoping that he was gonna tie it up last weekend but Oscar came out and dominated and if it wasn’t for the strategy mistake then he would have won everything.”

Piastri’s laid-back approach has been questioned at times. There are plenty of angry Aussies urging him to quit the nice guy routine and start raising hell in the McLaren garage.

If it’s true the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, don’t expect that to happen soon because even his father says it would be wrong for Piastri to break ranks with his older and more experienced teammate.

“The difference between an eight-year driver and a third-year driver is Oscar’s still learning,” Chris said.

“He’s still learning how a team works and the relationships within the team and his ability or his desire to call out mistakes or little alarm bells going off in his head.

“He’s not Fernando Alonso. He can’t sort of turn around and unload both barrels on the team. I don’t think it’s appropriate as a third year driver that you would do that.

“So he’s very respectful and he’s on the road with these guys for 24 races a year. He spends only 40 or so days at home at his place in Monaco and the rest of the time he’s with these people. You win and lose as a team and the team can’t afford to have too many divisions.

“Certainly not as a third year driver you should be launching rockets into the back of the team. I don’t think that’s appropriate and I don’t think Oscar’s that type of person.”

Originally published as Chris Piastri shuts down accusations of bias from McLaren against his son Oscar