F1 insider Davide Valsecchi tipped Oscar Piastri as the possible champion of the 2025 season, assessing how his teammate Lando Norris has been recently performing. He mentioned that Piastri had an impressive debut season in the sport and has already equaled Norris in qualification.
Moreover, while Norris has only won two races despite the competitiveness of the McLaren, Piastri has clinched five. He currently leads the Drivers’ Championship with a 22-point gap on his teammate. Lando Norris has always been the favorite within McLaren for the World Championship; however, that has recently changed.
2016 title winner Nico Rosberg also agreed to the same. His performance has been hampered significantly compared to Piastri’s. Davide Valsecchi, who won the GP2 Championship in 2012, hinted towards a Piastri-oriented season. He stated that Piastri’s performance “scares” him as a Norris fan.
“As a [Lando] Norris fan, it scares me a bit, that Oscar Piastri, his trajectory, is quite unbelievable,” Valsecchi said. “He was immediately impressive the first year in Formula 1. This year already, Piastri is equal to Norris in quali, and sometimes when the car is not perfect, he’s even in front of him. So I mean, the trajectory of Piastri scares you a bit because [it] seems that he’s getting better and better.”
Norris is a consistent driver; however, he does not seem to carry it on under pressure. There have been multiple moments where he has underperformed in those circumstances.
Ralf Schumacher feels McLaren is prioritizing Oscar Piastri over Lando Norris
The championship is carrying a lot of heat at the moment. There is a strong fight within the top three; however, Oscar Piastri seems clearly to be the strongest driver in the circumstances. The team may decide which driver to prioritize for the title fight heading into the end of the season. This is because allowing them to fight every time can have negative consequences on the team.
This was noticed during the Canadian Grand Prix earlier, when both drivers were battling for position and Norris ended up hitting Oscar Piastri. This ended the race for him, but Piastri was able to carry forward.
Citing this incident, former driver Ralf Schumacher claimed that the team has already decided to go ahead with Piastri as the number 1 driver for this season.
“I believe that it is now internally decided that Piastri is the man the team will focus on in terms of the World Championship. Lando shows too many weaknesses and makes too many mistakes, including his senseless driving into the back of Oscar in Canada,” Schumacher told Sky Deutschland.
There didn’t seem to be any heat amongst the drivers after the race. Lando Norris accepted that it was his fault in the crash and apologized for the incident.
