Oscar Piastri must adopt a more selfish and assertive mindset in his return to McLaren for the 2026 F1 season, says former F1 champion Damon Hill.
With less than a month before testing in Barcelona, questions linger over the Australian’s place at McLaren, since Lando Norris took out the F1 title.
Norris did not win the most races or lead the championship longest, with Max Verstappen taking eight wins – including the last three of the campaign – to the McLaren drivers’ seven apiece.
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Piastri topped the leaderboard from April to the end of October.
The Australian will be even more determined in 2026, after a massive learning year that at one point looked sure to crown him Australia’s first champion in 45 years.
McLaren have won two constructors’ crowns on the trot and sealed the team and driver’s title double for the first time since 1998.
While Norris and Piastri were the only ones to lead the standings all season, the Briton won the title amid a backdrop of allegations the team preferred him over the Aussie.
With the cloud of the 2025 season to hang around for the early part of 2026, Hill urged Piastri to not be so accommodating to his team or teammate, referencing the Monza controversy.
“Next year, if I were him, I’d be coming back saying, ‘Listen, I love the team, and it’s been great, but I have to think of myself’,” Hill said on the Drive to Wynn podcast.
“‘It’s my career. If the situation arises and you ask me to return points to my teammate, you have to ask yourself, why would I do that?’.
“‘I can’t afford to do that. I did it last year. That could have cost me the World Championship’.
“He had some misfortune, you have to say, and he’s lost out because of some decisions with McLaren, trying to be fair. For example, Lando had a bad pit stop at Monza, and he was asked to give the place back.
“Wow, that’s quite a big thing to do, isn’t it, to give points away to a guy you could be fighting for the world championship for?
“He will probably look at that and go, ‘Well, maybe I won’t do that again’.”
It’s understood Piastri’s manager and former F1 driver Mark Webber has spoken with rivals Ferrari and Mercedes about a potential move for 2027.
Hill believes the 2026 season could prove to be pivotal for Piastri’s long-term success, and the Aussie has a mental edge over Norris, in not taking a backward step against Verstappen.
“I think Max recognises that Oscar will not hesitate, won’t think twice,” Hill continued.
“He arrives, and then he’s attacked; he just goes straight in there. That’s one of his highest skills, I think, that ability to be an aggressive and decisive overtake.
“Do you remember what happened in Saudi Arabia when they both started biffing each other, and Max took to the escape road and then played silly buggers, by not giving the place back or whatever?
“I don’t think Oscar’s particularly intimidated by that. And so I think there’s a little bit more respect.
“Lando can be a little bit more circumspect and wary of Max, and Max knows that.”
