Lando Norris
McLaren
Mercedes
Red Bull
Ferrari
Williams
Racing Bulls
Aston Martin
Haas
Alpine
The Brazilian Grand Prix Sprint race served up another thrilling shorter-format race in the 2025 F1 season, and Jolyon Palmer has pinpointed one ‘skill test’ that saw Max Verstappen flourish and Oscar Piastri flounder.
The former championship leader has seen his previous advantage of 34 points over Lando Norris at the top of the F1 standings swing to a 24-point disadvantage after the conclusion of the most recent round of racing in Brazil.
Piastri crashed out of the Sprint race on Saturday in an ‘unlucky’ incident that saw Nico Hulkenberg and Franco Colapinto follow him off the track and into the barriers.
The DNF certainly didn’t help the Australian’s title hopes at all.
As Piastri took the chequered flag in P5 at the end of Sunday’s Grand Prix, McLaren admitted that they didn’t get ‘everything right’ for him during such a crucial episode of the championship battle.
READ MORE: Lando Norris wins the Brazilian Grand Prix as Max Verstappen stages heroic comeback
Jolyon Palmer highlights the ‘skill test’ that showed Max Verstappen’s ‘innate’ abilities during Brazil Sprint
Palmer gave his analysis of the incident that unfolded at the exit turn of turn two on F1’s official YouTube channel, noting how the McLaren star was one of the few drivers to fail the skill test that the damp conditions in Brazil served up.
He said, “The biggest whack of the lot was Colapinto, but it was tricky for everyone. I said Hulkenberg wasn’t even the second driver to go over it; we had Piastri, and we had Norris out front. But we also have Max Verstappen doing the same.
“So loads of drivers are starting to push the limit on that. And then it’s a skill test. Can you keep it on the road? How much of the finer details do you do? How much are you into that gully? How much are you just on the white line?
“The millimetres matter, and your absolute level of skill matters as well. Your reactions, your car control. So if we watch Verstappen come through, he’s also going to head over onto the kerb in a similar sort of zone to Piastri here, right towards the gully.
“There’s your spray. And for Max now, it’s a big slide. He’s also on the lock stops. It’s a massive moment for him. Heart in mouth. He’s almost going to be the first car to follow Oscar into the barriers, but he manages to control it.
“So, for me, it’s another example of Verstappen’s great driving talent and skill, innate to keep himself going. It’s so easy for the drivers to do that. Three of them doing it on the same lap shows that it’s not simply a dozy mistake. It’s something that they’re all pushing on the limit of.”
Oscar Piastri is now in danger of losing out on second place in the F1 standings to Max Verstappen
As well as seeing his championship lead being overturned by his McLaren counterpart, the 24-year-old has also been on the wrong end of a huge points swing in favour of Verstappen.
What was once a 104-point gap at the end of the Dutch Grand Prix that separated Piastri from the Red Bull star has turned into just 25 points.
Verstappen, paired with an RB21 that Red Bull have continued to upgrade, has outscored Piastri by 89 points in the last six race weekends.
With the way things are looking for the Australian driver, he could be looking at a third-place finish in the drivers’ championship after previously leading the championship for the majority of the current campaign.
Next up is the Las Vegas Grand Prix, and Palmer already thinks McLaren are facing a nightmare due to the unique characteristics of the street circuit.
Things may get even worse for the out-of-form Australian if Verstappen replicates his 2023 form that saw him take the chequered flag first.
Receive exclusive F1 news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
