Jun.2 (GMM) Max Verstappen’s wild late-race behaviour hogged the headlines, while Oscar Piastri begins to cement his claim on the 2025 drivers’ world championship.
Both Verstappen and his Red Bull boss Dr Helmut Marko agreed after the chequered flag in Barcelona that McLaren is clearly racing away with this year’s spoils.
“It’s not the end of the championship,” Marko insisted. “But it is getting harder and harder.”
Verstappen, P3 behind the two McLarens, is now 49 points adrift after round 9 of 24. Not just that, even with the FIA’s tougher new front wing flexibility tests now in full force, the Woking based team seems to even be pulling away from Red Bull.
“The gap to McLaren is now becoming frightening,” said Marko, “especially because we can’t keep up with McLaren’s pace despite our improvements to the car.
“We’re about two or three tenths slower, and even Verstappen can’t make up that kind of gap.”
2025, however, is not just Verstappen versus McLaren – but increasingly a Piastri versus Lando Norris contest. And it is the 24-year-old Australian, who is less experienced than Norris, who has quietly pulled out a 10-point advantage.
His Sunday in Barcelona was typical, as he increasingly reminds people of Kimi Raikkonen’s attitude. ‘I’m not sure I want to go by the name Ice-Boy,” Piastri protested when confronted with the moniker in Spain.
Dutch personality Tom Coronel, however, is convinced that the way Piastri quietly controlled the situation through the Spanish GP perhaps does deserve that title.
“This was typical Piastri,” he told Viaplay. “He doesn’t make much noise, but that boring has given him a good lead in the championship.
“At the moments when he had to push, you could see that he still had something left. We thought Norris was creeping up to him, but he always had it completely under control.”
Piastri even declined to give his full opinion on Verstappen’s alleged ‘battering ram’ move on George Russell – despite apparently confiding his true feelings to Norris behind the scenes.
“That’s not what he said earlier,” Norris laughed, after Piastri declared that he needed more “context” in order to form a view.
Former F1 driver Giedo van der Garde said late on Sunday: “Boring – that’s how you drive to a championship.
“He did it that way in Formula 2 too,” the Dutchman added. “Piastri won Formula 3 and Formula 2 in consecutive seasons because when he has the chance to win, he does it like he is doing now.
“If he doesn’t have that chance, he just takes second or third place instead. He stays cool, and that’s how you win a championship.”
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