Max Verstappen proved he has one vital skill Oscar Piastri hasn’t developed yet at the Australian Grand Prix

Max Verstappen maximised his result during the Australian Grand Prix after a difficult opening round of the 2025 season.

Red Bull came into the race knowing that McLaren would be tough to beat after they created headlines in testing, but the margins were much greater than anticipated.

Lando Norris was half a second faster than Verstappen in qualifying then in the race, the Red Bull driver could not hold on to the Intermediate tyres as the track dried out compared to the McLaren’s.

A wet F1 race is meant to be the great equaliser as it puts more emphasis on driver skill, and Verstappen showed just how important that is with his drive to second place in the Australian Grand Prix.

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Where Max Verstappen demonstrated better driving skill than Oscar Piastri

Martin Brundle once said Verstappen ‘rewrote the textbook’ in the early stages of his career with his drive in the 2016 Brazilian GP, showing how the Dutchman’s skill in wet weather is second to none on the current F1 grid.

The four-time world champion has a unique ‘driving experience’ that some rookies lack. Four of the six newcomers on the grid failed to finish Sunday’s race, partially because of the treacherous conditions, but mostly because they have limited experience driving F1 cars.

Peter Windsor highlighted how Verstappen has the edge on drivers like Oscar Piastri when speaking on the Cameron CC podcast, which is what led to the Australian making the error that effectively ended his chances of winning his home race.

“What we saw with all those young drivers going off is just sheer lack of driving experience. You could say ‘They do all these races’ but all you learn in races is how not to get a penalty for impeding, you don’t actually learn about driving things like understeer and graining tyres,” said Windsor.

“We don’t have enough mileage any more and that’s why so many of those young kids went off. They are all late-braking merchants who ask too much of the car. That’s why guys like Max Verstappen don’t make mistakes in difficult conditions, because they are constantly managing the car inside an envelope that guys like Piastri don’t have.”

The Dutchman is known for being a keen sim racer outside of his F1 duties, which can involve countless hours on a rig to learn a circuit. Gerhard Berger believes Verstappen’s sim racing is one trait that separates him from the great drivers in F1, as he can accumulate knowledge before he’s even turned a wheel at a track in reality.

How close was Max Verstappen to winning the Australian Grand Prix?

Verstappen did well to overtake Piastri in the first laps but made one unforced error while under pressure on his overheating Intermediates which dropped him back to third. When the rain hit the track again later in the race, both McLarens went off track in unison at Turn 12, with Piastri getting stuck in the grass at Turn 13.

The Australian was forced to drop a lap as he struggled to get back into the race, partially because he wanted to finish in front of his home crowd, but mostly as a Safety Car would have impacted Norris’ race.

Had Verstappen pitted the lap after Norris when the gap was 21 seconds, he would have emerged in the lead. Red Bull’s indecision in the conditions ultimately cost them, but they would have taken a P2 earlier in the weekend if you told them.

It might be the first time in 1,039 days since Verstappen had not led the Drivers’ Championship, but he showed in the Australian GP that he is always a threat.