Max Verstappen’s different treatment of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris comes down to respect. Max Verstappen appears to show more respect to Oscar Piastri than Lando Norris on and off the track.

Max Verstappen has been the only driver not in a McLaren to win a race in the 2025 Formula 1 season, at least so far.

By now, it’s increasingly difficult to find an adjective that does justice to the Red Bull phenomenon, while it’s easier to notice a significant difference in how he approaches his rivals.

Oscar Piastri now has Max Verstappen’s respect…
The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and the following race in Miami saw Oscar Piastri claim victory and extend his lead at the top of the championship standings.

Not only that: they also marked the first time he truly battled Verstappen for a win. The (sporting) aggressiveness of the Australian seems to have earned him the respect of the four-time world champion — something visible both on and off the track.

In defending first place in Miami, the Red Bull driver never went overboard, unlike what happened in Jeddah, where his fierce defence in Turn 1 earned him a penalty.

It seems that through that opening-lap episode, Oscar Piastri proved to Max Verstappen that he wasn’t afraid of him — and Max acknowledged his rival’s qualities: “Oscar is very strong. His approach is very calm, and I like that. You can see it on track: he gives his all when needed, rarely makes mistakes, and that’s exactly what you need when you want to fight for the championship,” he said after the Saudi Arabian GP.

Those are words he has never used about Lando Norris…

…Unlike with Norris
The Miami race was yet another demonstration that Max Verstappen doesn’t accept being overtaken by Norris in the same way he does with Oscar Piastri.

Through his behaviour, it seems that the Red Bull driver refuses to be beaten by a rival he considers inferior. At the start of the American race, Lando attempted a bold move around the outside of Turn 2, which would have turned into the inside of Turn 3. Yet Max Verstappen didn’t leave him a single centimetre of space, to the point where the McLaren driver fell from second to sixth.

Even in his comments, Max Verstappen has only gone so far: “He [Norris] has the talent to win World Championships,” he said at the end of the 2024 Formula 1 season.

Saying a driver “has the talent to win,” as he did with Norris, is quite different from saying “he has what it takes to win,” as in the case of Oscar Piastri.

On track, the difference between the two sentiments is evident in Max’s attitude; he accepts being beaten by a strong rival, but not by someone he doesn’t believe is on his level.