Oscar Piastri’s Key Strength Could Pay ‘Dividends’ in the Intense Championship Fight Ahead, Claims Martin Brundle

Martin Brundle(L), Oscar Piastri(R)

Oscar Piastri seems to have laid down a marker after he won his third race of the 2025 season at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit on Sunday. With him winning in Saudi Arabia, he also became the first Australian since Mark Webber in 2010 to lead the championship.

While McLaren would be all smiles after seeing Piastri’s performance, his teammate Lando Norris is unlikely to be happy. Since Piastri is considered Norris’ main rival, the Briton will know all too well that the momentum is slipping from his side due to his recent mistakes that seem to have cost him dearly.

Norris first faltered in Bahrain last weekend when he managed to qualify just P6 due to an error in qualifying. He then made a far worse mistake during the Saudi Arabian GP qualifying as he crashed out, leading him to qualify only P10. While he did produce a decent recovery to finish P4, it was not enough to keep his lead in the standings.

But what has been the key difference that has helped Piastri perform better than Norris, who is currently in his seventh season with McLaren and likely to be considered the senior driver on the side? According to former F1 driver Martin Brundle, it is Piastri’s calm demeanor.

“It’s ominous, it’s very good for him, and he’s still a young man. He’s 82 races behind Lando Norris in terms of experience. That calm head of his will pay dividends. You can imagine, if we get a big, old championship showdown, how useful his horizontal sort of nature will be,” he said in the commentary box.

With Piastri winning in Saudi Arabia, the pendulum seems to have swung massively in his favor as he now not only has momentum on his side but also leads the standings by 10 points from Norris, with Max Verstappen just two points further back.

The way Norris has been performing recently, he may need to worry more about Verstappen passing him in the standings than care about his own championship ambitions. So, the Briton will hope that he can bounce back in the next race in Miami, where he earned his maiden F1 win last season.

Post Edited By: Vidit Dhawan
Lando Norris Martin Brundle Max Verstappen McLaren Oscar Piastri Red Bull Saudi Arabian GP

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Anirban Aly Mandal

Anirban Aly Mandal is an F1 writer at The SportsRush, with over 1000 articles under his belt, Anirban's love for F1 started when he discovered a copy of F1 2014 on his computer. With over half a decade's worth of time spent religiously following the sport, he’s dived deep into the world of motorsports. However, Anirban's expertise goes beyond just writing - he has also written several academic papers focused on the domain of motorsports and the law. His passion for the sport is so immense that he aspires to work as a legal advisor in the most prestigious racing series in the world someday. When it comes to Formula 1, Anirban finds great pleasure in re-watching classic races and idolizes the likes of Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell, and Sebastian Vettel. His top picks include Brazil '91, Silverstone '92, and Germany '19. Outside of the sport, Anirban is an avid sim racer, often found racing on titles like Assetto Corsa, F1 22, and Automobilista. Apart from his interests in gaming, Anirban has a keen interest in philosophy, literature and music.

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