Marko intrigued to see if Piastri can "maintain this level of performance throughout the season"

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko is intrigued to see if Oscar Piastri "can maintain this level of performance" after taking the world championship lead after the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Piastri took his third win in just five races to open up the 2025 season, catapulting him up the standings to lead the title race with 99 points, ten more than teammate Lando Norris in P2, with Max Verstappen just two points behind the Brit.

After a mistake at the Australian Grand Prix saw Piastri drop from the podium to P9, three wins in four races have put him firmly in the world championship debate, with impressive drives in all three wins.

Piastri "positions himself as the main chalenger"

In his column for Speedweek.com, Marko explains how impressed he is with the start made by the McLaren driver: “For the first time in his career, Piastri leads the world championship.

"With performances like those in the recent races, he positions himself as the main challenger [to Verstappen in the title fight],” the 81-year-old continued.

The Australian and the Dutchman did battle last time out in Jeddah, both starting on the front row after Verstappen just did enough to pip Piastri by +0.010 in qualifying.

However, when the lights went out, Piastri got a much better launch than Verstappen and was able to get by just before turn 1. Verstappen tried to brake late and go for a move around the outside, but he went off track and retook the lead, with the stewards then giving him a five-second penalty for gaining an advantage off track, as he did not give the pace back.

The McLaren driver overtook during the first round of pit stops as Verstappen was forced to stay stationary for five seconds, and the Australian drove a calm and composed race to bring home another win.

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However, although Piastri has taken those three wins to start 2025, Marko does caveat that there is plenty of time to go in 2025: “It remains to be seen whether Oscar can maintain this level of performance throughout the season.

"Last year, there were one or two circuits where the Australian had a minor to significant disadvantage compared to Lando Norris,” concluded the Austrian.

This article was written in collaboration with Cas van de Kleut