Red Bull boss Christian Horner admitted Max Verstappen has a severe rival in Oscar Piastri, calling the younger Australian a “very rounded” competitor – however stays optimistic after a robust exhibiting in Saudi Arabia.
Verstappen, who began on pole, picked up a five-second penalty for reducing Turn 1 to remain forward of Piastri – a transfer that finally handed the result in the McLaren driver through the pit stops.
Piastri by no means regarded again, cruising to his maiden win of the season and taking the highest spot within the drivers’ championship for the primary time in his profession, leapfrogging teammate Lando Norris.
Despite a storm of hypothesis over Verstappen’s Red Bull future within the lead-up to Jeddah – following a rocky outing in Bahrain – the Dutchman delivered a blistering pole lap and flashed spectacular tempo on race day.
Horner acknowledges that Piastri, now 10 factors away from Norris and 12 forward of Verstappen, is proving to be formidable opposition for the four-time world champion.
“I think he is very strong, very strong mentally, pace-wise. He looks very rounded,” Horner stated of Piastri.
“Oscar has received three races to Lando’s one. He appears like the driving force in type at this second in time.
“He is now the chief of the championship. Had Max received, he would have been main the championship, so issues transfer round fairly shortly.
“There’s an terrible lot of positives that we are able to take out of the weekend. The irritating factor is I assumed we had them beat right this moment, and sadly, a very marginal name on the first chicane has been the distinction.
“That was probably our most competitive race of the year to date in terms of raw pace.”
Piastri secured back-to-back wins and now has three from the opening 5 races, changing into the primary Australian to guide the championship since Mark Webber in 2010.
The unflappable 24-year-old delivered one other faultless weekend, whereas Norris – who completed fourth – paid the value for ranging from tenth after crashing out of ultimate qualifying.
Piastri accomplished a shocking overtake on Lewis Hamilton on his out lap after pitting, going off-line to surge across the exterior of the Ferrari.
McLaren workforce principal Andrea Stella stated he had no issues in that second.
“Personally, I did not have any kind of exciting moment there. He was very confident, he was very in control of the situation, and he knew Turn 1 was his chance,” Stella stated.
“Today, for me, was like Baku (last season). In Baku, it was very tense – if you remember – with (Charles) Leclerc, but somehow I was very calm because it’s one of those in which you know that Oscar is in control, and he knows very well what he is doing.”
Source: www.dailysabah.com