Lewis Hamilton and Oscar Piastri have took part in F1 season opener Australian GP’s press conference on Thursday. Let’s read their thoughts before the race weekend start.
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The transcription of the official Press Conference via FIA.com:
Q: Let’s start with the hometown hero, if we can. Oscar, McLaren have won the last couple of Constructors’ titles. Just how confident are you in the team making it three in a row?
Oscar PIASTRI: “We’ll have to wait and see. It’s a very different regulation set. It would be very optimistic to say we’re going to have the same form as we did here 12 months ago. I think we’re somewhere towards the front, but from testing it kind of feels like Mercedes and Ferrari have got a little bit on us and Red Bull, I would say. Things are chopping and changing so quickly as everyone learns and brings things to the car, so we’ll have to wait and see. Last year we were coming here with very, very high hopes that we could achieve something special. This year I think we can still have a good result, but to achieve the same kind of performance we’re going to have to find a bit more.”
Q: On a personal level, you’ve made big steps each off-season of your Formula 1 career. Do you think you’ve made another step going into 2026?
OP: “Difficult to know because we’ve not started yet. What’s different this year, obviously, is the regulation reset. Having some of the off-seasons I’ve had previously and some of the things I’ve learned from that is definitely transferable into this year, but some of the challenges and driving style changes and things we’re looking at are pretty different to what we’ve seen ever, probably. I’m confident that I can take another step forward, hopefully using the same kind of process as what I have the last few years, and we’ll see where we end up.”
Q: Thank you for that. Good luck this weekend. And Lewis, let’s come to you now. Oscar said it himself, Ferrari looked to have a very solid pre-season. How confident are you and the team feeling coming into 2026?
Lewis HAMILTON: “Well, good afternoon. It’s good to see everybody. It’s great to be here. I’ve been here 20 years… that’s long? And this room is still the same! I would say it’s not a confidence thing. We got great mileage done in winter testing. An amazing amount of work has been done from the team back at the factory, but also delivering on those tests, and we’ve learned a lot from last year. We’re leaving behind the bad and moving forwards with the good. We’re sharp, prepared, and we know what we need to do. We also know there are massive challenges for all of us with the new rules and regulations.”
Q: This is your second season with Ferrari. Just how different does it feel coming into year two? You know all the processes, you know the people in the team. How does that help you?
LH: “It’s massively different to the first year and a much nicer feeling, having spent a year at the team, understanding the culture, understanding ways, finding ways of working together. I think we’re in a good place now together as a team, and I feel very gelled with the team today. So yeah, much happier.”