Oscar Piastri, in the aftermath of the Australian Grand Prix, was bitterly disappointed.

When I asked him about his attitude and the positives coming into the Chinese Grand Prix he tried to stay optimistic about what he could achieve.

“For myself, I feel like I’ve done a good job all weekend. So I think it would be pessimistic of me to just write off the whole weekend because of one mistake,” Piastri told The Roar.

This weekend, the Melbournian came back and put together what was his most complete race weekend in Formula 1 thus far.

In Friday’s sprint qualifying Piastri arguably could’ve had pole. Less than a tenth from the front and sitting behind two world champions Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen was bittersweet as Piastri was ahead of his McLaren teammate Lando Norris. The race was a slow burner with high degradation in the Pirelli tyres but Piastri made progress making it past Verstappen to take second behind Hamilton.

Oscar Piastri of Australia and McLaren in Parc ferme during the F1 Grand Prix of China at Shanghai International Circuit on March 23, 2025 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Kym Illman/Getty Images)

From qualifying onwards Piastri lead from the front. His first pole position was tight less than a tenth ahead of George Russell but the hairpin of his life, as he described it, was enough to give Australia its first pole position since Daniel Ricciardo at the 2018 Mexico Grand Prix.

Race day posed its own challenges. Russell got a better start than Piastri forcing the Australian to squeeze the Mercedes frontman down the inside of turn 1. A borderline one or two-stop race could have seen a nightmare strategy call but Piastri stuck to his guns and managed the race out in front. Similar to the theme of his junior career once out in clear air Piastri was near unbeatable and could manage the pace to wear his rivals down.

The standings show Piastri ten points behind leader Norris but he would be leading if not for his spin in Australia. The question remains if Piastri can fight consistently at the front and challenge Norris for the title. The car has been peaky and had a smaller window than many expected. Norris aborted both his final laps in sprint qualifying and qualifying itself. Piastri has taken a step in qualifying and been much closer to his teammate and race pace Piastri was fastest on track at points in both the Australian and Chinese Grand Prix. The advantage for China was that Australia’s number 81 had track position and that may be what dictates this world championship. With McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull all able to fight on their day starting out in front is going to be vital.

Piastri will not have it all this way this season. But confidence should be found in the step taken towards Norris. McLaren has the early season advantage and both Norris and Piastri need to make their mark on the championship early if they want to claim legitimacy. Japan, in two weeks, will be the next opportunity.