Helmut Marko highlights incredible Oscar Piastri potential

Oscar Piastri has the potential to become “a truly great driver,” according to Red Bull’s motorsport advisor, Helmut Marko.

The influential motorsport figure suggested the young Australian has come on from his breakout performances in F1 2024, though he is still no match for Max Verstappen.

Helmut Marko: Oscar Piastri could become ‘a truly great driver’

Helmut Marko has highlighted Oscar Piastri as the stronger of McLaren’s two drivers.

The 24-year-old currently leads the drivers’ championship by nine points over teammate Lando Norris having won six races in the opening 14 rounds of F1 2025.

Norris has won five, including three of the last four, with the duo proving closely matched.

However, it is Piastri’s consistency which gives him the edge in Marko’s estimations.

“Piastri has the nerve, is more consistent, and always gets the best out of himself. I’ve never seen him so emotionally charged,” he told F1-Insider. “Norris may be faster per lap, but overall I see Piastri ahead.”

A winner in Formula Regional, Formula 3, and Formula 2 in successive seasons, Piastri’s rise to F1 was meteoric.

Since arriving with McLaren in 2023, he’s developed a reputation for building into a weekend and being unflappable under pressure.

The former trait enabled him to bank laps throughout his formative season, resulting in more seat time – a valuable commodity for a young driver.

His low-risk approach has also played out in races, with the Australian currently on the fourth-longest points scoring run in F1 history, 40 races, stretching back to the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix. In F1 2024, he was the only driver on the grid to complete every racing lap.

That has helped expedite his own personal development such that, where qualifying was a weak point last year, he’s winning that internal battle with Norris 6-8 (6-11 including Sprints) in F1 2025.

“Piastri has had an incredible career and is improving year after year,” Marko observed. “He had some major fluctuations last year, depending on the track. That’s no longer the case.

“But Verstappen is Verstappen. He [Piastri] still has a long way to go.

“The potential to become a truly great driver is there, though.”

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Piastri now heads the drivers’ championship by nine points, a margin that narrowed following the Hungarian GP where he finished second to Norris.

However, the laid-back Melburnian is pragmatic on the points standings.

“The biggest lead of the year has been 23, and it’s not moved within 10 points for the last ten races almost,” Piastri noted following the Hungarian GP.

“So, I’m not really that fussed with that. Obviously, it would have been nice to have the extra points, but I don’t think it’s necessarily a trend. One second different, and the trend would have looked quite different.

“Things happening in the last few races differently could have meant quite a different picture. But you can say that about pretty much every race this year and about every championship ever.

“So, I’m not concerned at all,” he added.

“I think the pace for the first half of the year has been very, very strong, and I think the last few races as well have been very good.

“I feel like I’ve driven a lot of strong races, and it’s been very tightly fought. So, I expect more of the same after the break.”

F1 returns from its summer break with the Dutch Grand Prix on August 29-31.

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