Lando Norris will now see ‘scary’ Oscar Piastri trait in McLaren debriefs after British Grand Prix

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Oscar Piastri has been the man to beat during the 2025 Formula 1 season, having taken the lead of the Drivers’ Championship and won over half the races so far this year.

The Australian has taken seven victories so far this season and outclassed Lando Norris at McLaren on several occasions, although the Briton has counterpunched with two victories in a row at the halfway point.

Piastri was on course to winning the British Grand Prix, but was issued a penalty late in the race for a Safety Car mishap.

After voicing his frustration with the situation over team radio, Piastri would dispute the penalty after the race, despite McLaren electing not to protest the result.

It has been tougher than expected for Norris to go up against Piastri. But as explained by his former teammate on F1 Nation podcast, Frederik Vesti, it should come as no surprise.

Fredrik Vesti outlines ‘scary’ Oscar Piastri trait

Vesti was teammates with Piastri in Formula 3 and the Mercedes development driver explains why it was often ‘scary’ going up against him in the same team.

“It’s quite scary for sure. When you had a bad race or a good race, and you see the guy reacting the same way, then you know there is something deep in there,” said Vesti.

“There is big potential, and that’s what I’ve experienced being his teammate. Funny enough, he had one race win in F3 in 2020. I had three.

“But he still managed to win the championship, and I think that tells a lot about Oscar. He’s very consistent. He doesn’t show his emotions, and he doesn’t go up and down that much.”

Oscar Piastri good at ‘learning’ and understanding

Piastri won the 2020 Formula 3 title with Prema after a season-long battle with old British Formula 4 rival and eventual Williams F1 driver, Logan Sargeant.

Vesti explains why Norris should be scared of one trait that makes Piastri a title winner: “What Oscar is good at is learning, is understanding the data and always improving. He was fast, but he was even faster when he had the time to develop and to understand and work at things. And I think that’s why he’s so competitive at McLaren.

“Because obviously they have the car, they have the pace. But against Lando, he basically has a good reference. And he has also the potential in FP1, FP2, FP3 to develop into quality.”

Martin Brundle thinks McLaren should expect ‘fireworks’ in the second half of 2025, after seeing Piastri angry for the first time in Silverstone over his penalty situation.