Oscar Piastri, The Man To Beat

Being the championship favourite happens overnight at the moment in F1. With social media oscillating between who is flavour of the month, and the famous line "you're only as good as your last race", it wasn't too difficult for the only multiple-race winner in 2025 to become everyone's favourite for the championship title this year. Even reigning world champion, Max Verstappen, was full of praise for what Oscar is doing at the moment. "I think I've said it before. People forget a little bit - last year was his second year. Now he's in his third year, and he's very solid" the Dutchman said about his rival, "He's very calm in his approach, and I like that. He delivers when he has to, barely makes mistakes - and that's what you need when you want to fight for a championship".

Oscar took his first victory in F1 at the 2023 Qatar sprint, but it wasn't until the now infamous 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix, where Oscar would take his first F1 Grand Prix Victory. The two McLarens were out front, and through favourable strategy, Lando Norris found himself in the lead once the pitstops were settled. The team pleaded with the Brit over the radio to let Oscar back through, as it was their mistake and not Lando's success that had left them in this situation; the team claimed Lando would "need Oscar for the championship" and letting him through would help to keep the team relationship solid. It always felt a bit flat to me, that Oscar's first race victory, while it was on his merit, didn't feel like it. It wasn't until later in the season at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix that Oscar would take what felt like his first real victory, overtaking Leclerc and defending in the opening stages, to later pull a gap and deal with the chaos that unfolded behind him.

Oscar has had a stonking start to the 2025 season, running in second in Australia until the rain came down and a small mistake left him on the grass with no traction. He didn't give up though, and managed to creep slowly out of the grass and fight back for some points. In China, he took his third Grand Prix victory ahead of a mechanically-stricken Norris; in Japan he followed the two title protagonists home for third. In Bahrain, he left the field for dust, pulled a huge gap, dealt with the safety car, and dominated the entire weekend; in Saudi Arabia, he fended off an almost-desperate overtake from Max, kept his head cool, and waited for the FIA to deal the justice hammer, before going on to win the race and take the championship lead.

It's no secret that the McLaren is the fastest car at the moment, which certainly helps, but when you look at what Lando has been able to achieve with it, you really begin to understand that Oscar is very impressive. It helps too, perhaps, that Oscar's manager is former Red Bull star Mark Webber, who recently said that Oscar is coping very well under the "artillery of his rivals". Max too was full of praise about how Mark can help Oscar in the title fight, citing his own dad as inspiration, "It's great. People learn from their own careers - that's what I did with my Dad, and Mark is advising Oscar. At the end of the day, Oscar is using his talent and it's great to see".

Oscar Piastri heads into Miami with 3 race wins this season, equal on the all time list with his teammate Lando Norris.