Oscar Piastri snubs Max Verstappen and names his BIGGEST challenger for 2025 F1 title
McLaren’s star Australian driver Oscar Piatsri has shared his thoughts on who are going to be the biggest challengers for the 2025 championship.

Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen (Via IMAGO)
The 2025 Formula one season so far has seen McLaren’s impressive dominance. The British teams’ drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri has won the first two races of the season, while Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton secured the sprint race win last race weekend. These results put the McLaren duo as the championship favorites, alongside the reigning champion Max Verstappen.
Before the Japanese Grand Prix, Oscar Piastri was asked to name biggest challengers for the 2025 season. He named himself and teammate Lando Norris as the main contenders. Piastri backed his argument highlighting the strong challenger McLaren has and how solid Norris is, both as a teammate and racer.
I think for myself, Lando is obviously in the same car as me, and it’s a strong car, and I know that Lando is a very strong teammate.
Oscar Piastri said at Japanese GP.
He then gave his reasons for not naming the four times champion Max Verstappen. Piastri admitted that the Dutchman is an incredibly strong driver, but with Norris having a better car and having good momentum stands out. The poor performance of the Red Bull challenger might also be another reason behind the comments from the Australian.
Max is obviously an incredibly strong driver as well, so to pick one is very difficult, but I think just because we have the same car, probably Lando.
Oscar Piastri added.
Oscar Piastri predicts 2025 will be a stressful year for him
In same media session, Piastri shared his thoughts about the narrow advantage his teammate Lando Norris has over him after the first two races. But with 222 races left in the season, he believes its not the time to have such pressure on his as the year is going to be more stressful for him.

You never want to give any advantage away, whether it’s lap time, points, you never want to give it away if you don’t have to. So, of course, I want to try and reverse that gap that we have, but with 22 races to go, it would be a pretty stressful year if you’re worried about that gap already.
Oscar Piastri said.
The youngster is determined to be solid on the track, with perfecting the execution and learning from the mistake of previous races. He believes if he can achieve these goals, then the points gap will naturally take care of itself.
So, for me, it’s just trying to make sure I execute every weekend to the best that I can. And I feel like the first two weekends of the year have been good examples of that. If we do that, then the points will naturally take care of itself. That’s all.
Oscar Piastri added.
The comment from the Aussie shows the strong and competitive mentality he has going into the 2025 season. He understands that with the dominant car, they are the favorite and the inter-team battle is going to create some chaos. Paistri seems ready to tackle them and win his maiden title.