Nico Rosberg makes Oscar Piastri u-turn after overcoming his ‘Achilles’ heel’ at the Spanish Grand Prix

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri is establishing himself as one of the most talented drivers on the grid after securing his fifth Formula 1 victory of the season.

The Spanish Grand Prix was hyped as a potential turning point in the 2025 F1 season.

Changes to the flexing of each car’s front wing were supposed to hamper McLaren, according to some of their rivals, but that couldn’t have been further from the truth.

Oscar Piastri secured pole position with the largest margin of the season ahead of teammate Lando Norris.

Max Verstappen wasn’t going to let either driver cruise around the Circuit de Catalunya, and his unorthodox three-stop strategy put both McLaren stars under pressure until the late safety car shook up the order.

Piastri controlled the restart perfectly, slowing the cars down as much as possible to stop Verstappen from warming up his new hard tyres, costing the Red Bull driver valuable points in the process.

Karun Chandhok was impressed with Piastri’s latest victory as he extended his lead over Norris to 10 points.

Nico Rosberg was speaking ahead of the race about the drivers’ championship leader and shared the ‘Achilles’ heel’ that Piastri had now overcome, which gives him a great chance of becoming Australia’s next champion.

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Nico Rosberg shares the ‘Achilles’ heel’ Oscar Piastri has now overcome

Rosberg was asked on Sky Sports F1 (1/6 1:31 pm) how Piastri has improved as a racer this year and explained: “So, Oscar has improved massively because last year he was playing second fiddle to Lando most of the time and especially on race pace.

“That was his Achilles heel, that was where he was weakest. He was wearing those tyres more and I don’t know how he’s done it.

“He must have worked hard on it to try and understand and analyse what was going wrong, and really prepare well.

“And this year, he’s doing a much better job. I still think Lando will have a great chance on race pace, but Oscar is super solid now in racing and much improved.”

Strategy expert Bernie Collins added to Rosberg’s praise and said: “I think the thing that’s impressed me the most about Oscar this year in particular, and I totally agree with Nico on the race side of it, he’s managed to control the degradation of those tyres.

“He gets a qualifying lap done when it matters. And on the whole this year, that’s why he’s always putting himself in these strong positions, P1 down the line, if he can hold onto that, he’s going to have a good race.”

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Oscar Piastri is proving people wrong at McLaren this season

Piastri was superb throughout the race and has now got over one of his biggest weaknesses by nailing his race pace and tyre management.

Rosberg previously criticised Piastri’s tyre performance last season, with the Chinese Grand Prix in particular a track where he struggled.

He went on to win in Shanghai this year before securing a hat-trick of victories in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Miami.

Juan Pablo Montoya thought Norris had more speed than Piastri heading into the Spanish Grand Prix, but his pole position lap suggested otherwise.

Before the campaign started, many people expected McLaren to be the team to beat after winning the constructors’ championship last year.

Norris finished 82 points ahead of Piastri in 2024 and while it was expected that the Australian would improve over the winter, the rate at which he’s levelled up has been remarkable.

Formula 1’s final expected regulation change of this era has now taken place; with McLaren staying on top, the championship is very much in Piastri’s hands even at this early stage of the campaign.