Danner: Piastri is a 'major issue' for Verstappen.
"Max is fully aware - Piastri is a formidable competitor."
It is Oscar Piastri, rather than his "slightly faster" McLaren teammate, who Max Verstappen should be most concerned about in 2025.
Verstappen has secured four consecutive world championships, but this year, the superior car is undoubtedly the McLaren, with its drivers holding the top two spots in the points standings.
Lando Norris was leading the championship earlier this season, but Piastri has impressively claimed four wins in the last five grands prix, putting the young Australian at the top of the leaderboard.
Former F1 driver Christian Danner mentioned to sport.de that he believes Norris is "probably a bit quicker than Piastri in raw speed."
"However, Norris still makes mistakes that Piastri seems to have already moved past," he noted.
"That doesn’t mean Norris can't also improve," Danner added. "But things aren’t going smoothly for him at the moment."
Even though Verstappen is finding it difficult to match the pace of the dominant McLarens right now, Danner emphasized that no one in the paddock should count him out.
Among Norris and Piastri, he believes the Dutch driver will pay more attention to the latter. "He (Piastri) poses a significant challenge for Verstappen.
"Max is fully aware - Piastri is a tough competitor."
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