Verstappen praises Piastri: “He has what it takes to fight for the title, with Webber guiding him like my father did for me”. Max Verstappen praises Oscar Piastri, calling him calm, consistent, and ready to fight for the title.

Battle at the start
Oscar Piastri is the new leader of the World Championship. After an unfortunate off-track moment in Australia just as the rain began to fall in the final laps, the Australian driver dominated the head-to-head with Lando Norris, finishing behind his teammate only in Japan in a race decided by qualifying.

Oscar Piastri has won three of the last four races and now holds a 10-point lead over Lando Norris and a 12-point gap to Max Verstappen. Yesterday, at the start, the McLaren driver was ice-cold and composed in his move on Max Verstappen at Turn 1, then pulled off another brilliant maneuver by overtaking Hamilton after the pit stop at a very tricky point, showing he’s not lacking in courage.

In the press conference, Max Verstappen emphasized that Oscar Piastri has everything needed to aim for the championship:
“He’s in his third year in F1 and he’s very solid and consistent. He has a very calm approach and that’s something I really like. He shows it on track: he never misses the mark on performance and makes very few mistakes. That’s exactly what you need when you want to fight for a championship.”

“I also think that having Mark Webber by his side is helping him a lot. People learn from their careers, and Webber is doing for Oscar Piastri what my father did for me—offering valuable advice. Oscar is simply making the most of his talent, and that’s a great thing.” – the four-time Formula 1 world champion concluded at the end of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.