Oscar Piastri told he is ‘definitely not’ Max Verstappen after what the McLaren driver struggled with in Monaco

Oscar Piastri has finished on the podium at each of the past seven Grands Prix, but McLaren teammate Lando Norris cut his lead down to just three points in Monaco.

Norris won the Monaco Grand Prix from pole position last Sunday after navigating the traffic created by F1’s mandatory two-stop rule and pressure from Charles Leclerc of Ferrari. Piastri had to settle for third place after failing to match his teammate’s pace throughout the event.

Leclerc sprung a surprise to surpass the expectations the Monegasque had for Ferrari ahead of his home race to lead every practice session. But Norris found the speed he needed in Q3 to snatch pole position by 0.109 seconds and managed his lead over Leclerc during the race.

Piastri now heads to this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix amid his longest drought for wins of the 2025 F1 season yet at two rounds. Norris has taken 13 points from the Australian’s lead in the F1 drivers’ standings in the last two rounds after also taking P2 to Piastri’s P3 at Imola.

Oscar Piastri is ‘definitely not’ Max Verstappen after failing to recover from his practice crash at the Monaco Grand Prix

Mike Hezemans also feels Piastri proved he is ‘definitely not’ the new Max Verstappen at the Monaco GP last weekend after feeling the McLaren driver was starting to adopt a reputation for being the ‘new God’ of Formula 1, having taken four wins in the first six rounds this term.

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But from the highs that followed his imperious run, Hezemans feels Piastri could not recover from his crash in FP2 for the Monaco GP on Friday. The 24-year-old brought out the red flag after burying his car nose-first into the barrier at Sainte Devote after taking too much speed.

“[Norris and Piastri] are both good drivers, but they are not complete,” Hezemans has told RacingNews365. “Everyone thinks it is fantastic and great with Piastri, who is more or less the new God. I think he is not that bad.

“In Monte Carlo, he did not do well. Piastri had a bad start and did not accelerate in qualifying, so it was not enough. I do not think he is that good. He is definitely not Max.

“That is the luck [for Verstappen]. Max has not lost anything, the championship is not gone yet. After Barcelona, you know a lot, so that is nice.”

Oscar Piastri actually recovered from his FP2 crash in Monaco, but Lando Norris raised his game

While Hezemans thinks Piastri did not bounce back after his crash in FP2 for the Monaco GP, the Melbourne native was able to reverse out of the Sainte Devote barrier and go on to post the second-fastest time in the session. He was also just 0.038s from Leclerc’s leading time.

But Norris took his game up another level last Saturday to lead Piastri in FP3 for the Monaco GP by 0.151s and crucially in qualifying by 0.175s as the McLaren pair took pole position and P3. Norris also converted the lead into the win without any pressure from Piastri on Sunday.

Most of the Australian’s focus through the early stages came from behind as Verstappen put Piastri under pressure during the Monaco GP. His challenge fell away as Red Bull gambled on a late red flag and left the Dutchman out until the penultimate lap to do his second pit stop.