Verstappen's new challenger rises: Piastri takes the lead from Norris at McLaren

In 2023, McLaren acquired Oscar Piastri as a replacement for Daniel Ricciardo. Ricciardo had not delivered the performances he was brought in for over his years at McLaren. He was supposed to be the star of the team, but was outclassed by the younger Norris. Instead of making Norris the leader, McLaren chose a driver who could challenge the Briton.

It was Oscar Piastri, who became the Formula 3 and Formula 2 champion as a rookie in back-to-back years. Alpine did not give their driver a chance in F1 immediately after winning F2, leading Piastri to look elsewhere. The switch to McLaren, after quite a few lawsuits, has proven fruitful for him.

In 2023, Piastri had an excellent season as a rookie. In a year when McLaren were finally moving forward again, Piastri won his first sprint race in Qatar. There, he impressively held off Max Verstappen and won a race earlier than teammate Lando Norris, although it was 'just' a sprint race.

Yet, Norris was clearly the better of the two drivers in 2023. The qualifying duel ended 15-7, with an average margin of two tenths in favour of the Brit. The difference in the race was even larger. Norris scored 205 points compared to Piastri's 97. The Australian finished ahead of his more experienced teammate six times in the races.

In 2024, there was criticism of Piastri for the outcome of the qualifying duel: 20-4. People thought that Piastri had not made a step forward, but the underlying data showed otherwise. Piastri lost more often, but the average difference decreased. On Saturdays, the average difference was only 0.171s. In terms of the Sundays, Piastri also came closer. Piastri finished ahead of Norris 8 times in the races, and the difference in championship points was also relatively smaller: 374 to 292.

In 2024, as McLaren's best driver, Norris had a good chance at the world title, but he was outperformed by Max Verstappen. McLaren did become constructors' champions and entered 2025 as favourites. That favourite status makes McLaren stand out, but Norris no longer has the clear lead.

Just in the year when McLaren has the best car in F1 from the start, Norris is no longer the fastest within the team. In five qualifying sessions, Piastri was already faster three times, with an average difference of 0.116s. Now in Piastri's favour.

In the races, Norris does not have the upper hand either. In Australia, Piastri was clearly faster than his teammate, but a team order meant he had to maintain his position. In the rain, both drivers made mistakes, but Piastri's error cost him more dearly than it did Norris.

In the subsequent races, Piastri was demonstrably faster in every race. In China and Bahrain, this led to victories, in Japan he was not given the chance by the team to attack Max Verstappen. And that while he had been within DRS distance of Norris for laps and the Briton was unable to do the same with Verstappen.

Yet, many still seem to be fans of Norris because he shows at times to be truly faster. The pressure to perform and a car that doesn't do exactly what he expects, however, have led to him not maximising the MCL39's potential on multiple occasions.

Piastri may not always drive the super fast lap that Norris can, but Piastri more often stitches his sectors together and performs consistently under pressure. These could well be the ideal ingredients for an F1 world title in 2025, after Piastri impressively won the F2 and F3 titles in a similar manner as a rookie.

After the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Oscar Piastri leads the F1 world championship, making him the first Australian to lead the drivers' standings since his manager Mark Webber.

In the paddock, there's a lot of respect for Piastri. For instance, after the race, Max Verstappen again praised his rival, who would also have a great mentor in Webber, just as Max has learned for years from his father Jos Verstappen. Christian Horner also called Oscar a 'complete driver' after the race, answering a question from GPblog.