Oscar Piastri pulls no punches as he responds to George Russell's remarks about McLaren

Oscar Piastri bluntly reacted to George Russell's claims that McLaren's advantage this season was massive and the team could just now completely switch focus to the 2026 F1 season. The start of the season in Australia saw the reigning champions finding themselves in a dominant position with a front-row lockout.

If it wasn't for a late race shower, the team was set for a 1-2 finish with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri comfortably ahead. In the end, it was Norris holding off Max Verstappen, as the former crossed the line in P1 and won the first race of the year.

Talking to the media, George Russell claimed that McLaren's advantage was so big that the team could now shut the development of the 2025 car and focus completely on the next season.

The comment was put forward to Oscar Piastri before the F1 Chinese GP. The Australian replied that if Russell wanted to give up on the championship after just the first race, he wouldn't stop him. Notably, McLaren has been traditionally strong at Melbourne in the last two years, even when the car was not as good in general.

In both 2023 and 2024, the team had a double-point finish, which was a bit of an overachievement at the time, considering the car's competitiveness. Piastri put forth the same argument to the media, including Motorsport, as he said:

"Yeah, George, he's come up with some funny things in the last couple of weeks. We'll see. I think, you know, it's just one race, it's been a track that's been competitive for us the last couple of years, even when our car wasn't as dominant as a Red Bull. So, I think we'll go to different tracks where we will struggle more. That's for sure."

He added:

"So, if he wants to write off his season after the first weekend, then I'll let him do that. But, I think we're very aware that, you know, Melbourne was, I think, an exceptional weekend rather than what we're expecting to be the norm."

Oscar Piastri on the contrasting statements from Lando Norris and George Russell

Heading into the Chinese GP, Lando Norris has talked about how the McLaren was not entirely conducive to his style of driving, as he's been adapting to get the best out of it. Russell, on the other hand, has doubled down on his comments about the advantage the Woking-based squad has over the rest of the field.

Oscar Piastri was asked to give his view on both those statements to which he said that "one of the two statements" was quite far-fetched. He said:

"I think one of those statements is pretty far-fetched. I'll let you decide which one. But, no, I think, you know, clearly our car was very strong in Melbourne. I think there's no denying that. I think we got to a place where it was also handling well. You know, of course we're racing drivers, we're never gonna have everything we want, but I think it was clear that in all the conditions in Melbourne, our car was very strong."

Oscar Piastri didn't have the best start to the 2025 F1 season as he got beached in the grass during the Australian GP. He ended up finishing P9 in the race from fighting for a win and in China he would be looking to have a better showing.