Oscar Piastri drops F1 future revelation LIVE on stage

Oscar Piastri reaffirmed his commitment to McLaren live on stage at the FIA prize giving gala, while having to watch F1 team-mate Lando Norris claim his drivers' championship trophy.

Despite having led the 2025 championship between April and October, Piastri finished third in the standings, 13 points behind champion team-mate Norris.

A mixture of poor qualifying performances and several point-less finishes in the final 10 races meant that Piastri let a commanding position slip and even finished behind Max Verstappen, who was 104 points behind him at one stage in the season.

Nevertheless, Piastri is only 24 years of age and would have gained valuable experience in 2025 about what it's like to be in a championship battle against supreme talents like Norris and Verstappen.

On Friday evening, Piastri had to watch on in Uzbekistan as his team-mate picked up his trophy at the annual FIA prize giving gala, and while on stage with the whole McLaren team, Piastri seemed to confirm his commitment to the Woking outfit.

Piastri is contracted with McLaren until the end of the 2028 season, but his championship loss would have been hard to take, and has led to rumours about his long-term future.

However, the young Australian said live on stage that he's fully focused on racing Norris at McLaren for 'plenty more years'.

"A lot of highs, a lot of lows as well," Piastri said.

"But that's all part of the experience and I think I've learned a hell of a lot of lessons this year that will help me for the rest of my career.

"Plenty of fun going racing with Andrea and Zak next to me and Lando as well, looking forward to plenty more years trying to push each other and trying to beat each other so it's been a great season and I'm looking forward to a few weeks off and it all starts again pretty quick."

Who will win 2026 championship?

Piastri and Norris will be hopeful that they will be in a championship battle once more in 2026, while four-time world champion Verstappen is never far away.

But the new regulations that are sweeping into the sport next year may just flip F1 on its head.

A shake up of the competitive order is expected, and so far the rumours are that Mercedes are best placed to master the regulation changes, potentially throwing both George Russell and Kimi Antonelli into the mix.

And then there's the highly-ambitious Aston Martin team who are hoping to be challenging further up the grid in 2026, and of course Ferrari, who have seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton waiting for a car that can help him add to his all-time record tally of grand prix wins.

It's set to be a thrilling season, and Piastri was right when he said that it's not long before it all gets going again, with January seeing a three-day pre-season testing event at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

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